Forming and Orienting the Rural Development in the Palestinian Villages Case Study- Beit Iba Village

This study has been conducted on forming and directing the patterns of rural development in the Palestinian rural areas in which the village of Beit Iba has been taken as a case study. The study discussed Rural Development, its definition and types, development trends in Palestine, the transformations that have occurred regarding the society and the rural fabric in all of the architectural, economical, environmental and social aspects. The study has shown that although the Israeli occupation was and still the main obstacle that hinders development in the Palestinian territories, especially rural areas, there are other obstacles that are attributed to the citizens themselves, the add craftsmen, as well as officials in different fields. Add to this the absence of coordination between the different departments and institutions especially in the field of monitoring and following up procedures. In addition to these obstacles, there is the poor level of management, and the failure of some regulations in coping with the rapid technological growth or in stopping the different abuses in the environmental, organizational and administrative fields. The study has focused on Beit Iba village as a case study through discussing its importance, its definition, topographic characteristics, the patterns of development that it has gone through starting by the old, traditional ones, the modern and the contemporary patterns. It also discussed the characteristics of each pattern and the changes that occurred on the structure of the village, the factors that affected development in each stage whether they are social, economical, environmental or natural. The study further discussed the architectural transformations that each stage has witnessed and the environmental, architectural and social problems that have resulted. The study has arrived to the conclusion that by careful and proper planning, adopting developmental policies locally and regionally, and by observing the execution of plans and the results, we will be able to get rid of the current problem. The study also sees that the rapid urbanization process along with the negative development and the environmental, social and service problems that it made, as well as the effacement of the traditional sites of the village all this can be reduced by preparing to contain this development through setting development plans that can rise up with the Palestinian rural life in the social, economical, environmental and architectural fields and by raising awareness among the people so that they become more familiar with the problems that the rural environment actually faces, to study these problems, their rates and the future objectives that are set to solve them.