Physical Development of Settlements Located South of Jenin Governorate and the Proposal of Establishing a Joint-Services Center

The territory of the study is one of the Palestinian areas which suffered and is still suffering from several problems due to the policy of the Israeli occupation which aims at impoverishing the Palestinian rural areas. One of those main problems is the ruined infrastructure of these areas, and the lack of many public services such as the health, education, social and administrative services. The territory, also, suffers from random misconstruction under the absence of territorial and structural plans which designate the development trends and the usages of the land from the major part of the population inside the territory, where the phenomena of buildings being constructed on agricultural land is becoming more obvious. On the economic level, we can observe the high increase in the percentage of unemployment especially after al Aqsa Intifada since there is a large sector of laborers depending on work inside Israel. Beside, the territory lacks economic and developmental objects. All these factors and problems together were the main stimulant to undertake this study, which attempts to find suitable solutions for these problems by putting a Comprehensive Developmental Plan for the territory that aims at preparing and upgrading the infrastructure of the settlements in the territory as well as establishing a joint-services center supporting the city of Jenin. This center is accessible to reach, which helps to save residents efforts, money and time. In addition, such developmental plan will certainly lead to stability and improve the economic and physical development conditions in the settlements of the territory. The thesis includes a detailed study of the current situation in the territory in terms of geographical, demographic, economic, and physical aspects. Also it includes a discussion of the various land uses in the territory. Furthermore, the available potentials, opportunities, and threats that may face the implementation of development plans inside the territory has been analyzed and determined. As a result of these descriptive and analytical studies on the base of certain theories and models dealing with the spatial organization, development and distribution of settlements, it becomes clear that the town of Maithaloun is a suitable location for establishing the proposed joint-services center. In addition, the study has indicated the expected benefits of establishing such center through decreasing the distances and saving the money and efforts, which the people in the territory face.