Palestinian Territories Research Articles

Opportunities and challenges of using a health information system in adolescent health management: A qualitative study of healthcare providers' perspectives in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory.

Adolescents are a critical demographic facing unique health challenges who are further impacted in humanitarian settings. This article focuses on the urgent need for a structured health information system (HIS) to address the gaps in data availability and evidence-based interventions for adolescent health. The study aims to identify opportunities and challenges in utilizing the HIS to enhance adolescent health in the West Bank by gathering insights from healthcare providers. Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with participants involved in the HIS regarding adolescent health in the West Bank. They were selected by purposive sampling. Nineteen interviews were conducted between July and October 2022, and thematic analysis was carried out using MAXQDA software. The opportunities identified were the small-scale victories the participants described in building the HIS for adolescent health. These included institutional and individual capacity building, digitalizing parts of the HIS, connection fragmentation of adolescent health activities, multi-sectoral collaboration, reorienting services based on health information, working with limited resources, enhancing community engagement to encourage ownership and active participation, and taking strategic actions for adolescents for information. The challenges were the high workload of staff, lack of health information specialists, limited resources, lack of a unified system in data collection, lack of data on essential indicators, data quality, data sharing, and data sources and use. This study showed the potential of the HIS with capacity building, digitization, and collaborative initiatives; it also suffers from issues like staff shortages, non-standardized data collection, and insufficient data for essential indicators. To maximize the impact of the HIS, urgent attention to staff shortages through comprehensive training programs, standardization of data collection systems, and development of a unified core indicator list for adolescent health is recommended. Embracing these measures will allow the HIS to provide evidence-based adolescent health programs, even in resource-constrained and complex humanitarian settings.

Innovation as erasure: Palestine and the new regional alliances of technology

AbstractThis article explores the growing connections between the Persian Gulf states and the heavily militarised Israeli innovation ecosystem. The Gulf actors now play an increasing role in support of Israel as a globally expanding ‘Start‐up Nation’, and are involved in transforming Palestinian land into a regional frontier of technology in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli‐Gulf cooperation and its impact on Palestinians, however, has not been thoroughly researched. Drawing from fieldwork among Palestinian and Israeli innovation elites, we map these growing connections between Gulf state actors and Israel and analyse how the occupied Palestinian territories are further enmeshed in complex networks of financial capitalist and settler colonial security interests. Theoretically, the paper advances the critique of the contemporary settler colonial frontier, venturing beyond its usual Eurocentric and binary geographies. We conclude that ‘innovation’ is both (a) the terrain of expanding structures of Israeli colonisation and (b) the site of productive ambivalences and novel forms of resistance in an evolving regional and global reality.

Prolonged Military Occupation: Rethinking the Israeli Occupation on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Abstract This research focuses on an increasingly important question associated with the state of military occupation as part of International Humanitarian Law, namely, to what extent the rights and duties of an occupying power are to be broadened or otherwise minimized when an occupation of a foreign territory lasts for a long period of time? This question is necessitated by the practices of some occupying powers that claim their ‘original’ authority over occupied areas should exceed the original rights embodied in the legal corpus on military occupation due to the prolonged nature of their military presence. This research focuses on the state of the Israeli military occupation over the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs.) and found that the Israeli practices are calculated in this direction, i.e., the expansionist policy, which ultimately conflict with the corpus of rules of international law on military occupation.

How Loyalty Trials Shape Allegiance to Political Order

“Loyalty trials” are common to a range of conflict settings, with consequences that range from harassment to imprisonment, torture, or death. Yet, they have received little if any attention as a general phenomenon in studies of state repression, civil war, or rebel governance, which focus on particular behaviors that authorities use to put people on trial, such as dissent, defection, and resistance. Using a computational model and data on the German Democratic Republic and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we focus on the dynamics of “loyalty trials” held to identify enemy collaborators—the interaction between expectations, perceptions, and behavior. We use our framework to explore the conditions under which trials result in widespread defection, as in the German Democratic Republic, or in conformity as illustrated by our study of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The polarizing nature of loyalty trials and the propensity to over- or under-identify threats to political order have notable implications for democratic and non-democratic societies alike.

Epidemiology of scorpion stings in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory.

Scorpionism (scorpion sting envenoming) is an endemic public health concern in many Arab Middle Eastern countries. However, our knowledge of the epidemiology of scorpion stings in the West Bank is limited. To investigate the epidemiology of scorpion stings in 4 districts of the West Bank over a specified period. We obtained scorpion sting records from the main hospitals in 4 districts of the West Bank for 2012 and 2014-2020. A total of 2175 cases were analyzed retrospectively using SPSS version 17. The average age and standard deviation (±SD) for both sexes was 24.7±17.5 years (22.7±16.5 and 27.1±18.4 years for males and females, respectively). The median age was 20 years and 47.2% were children under 18 years. Most cases were reported during the summer months, between June and October, with a peak in July-August. By anatomic site, the right hand was the most commonly stung in both sexes, followed by the right foot. The chest, buttocks and scrotum were the least affected body parts. Clinical data were available for 405 cases, in which pain, vomiting and sweating were the most common symptoms. The overall incidence of stings was 26.32 per 100 000 inhabitants per year over the study period of 8 years (59.21-171.67, 95% CI). Scorpion stings are commonly encountered by adults and children in the West Bank. There is a need for awareness among the West Bank populations on how to avoid being stung, to train medical staff to better manage sting cases, and to evaluate the antivenom currently being used by physicians for scorpion stings.

War Crimes In Palestine From The Perspective Of The International Criminal Court (ICC)

The purpose of this study is to find out what becomes the main considerations of an entity recognized as a state by law war crimes from an International Criminal perspective Court (ICC) . Types of research used in this study is juridical normative, with the approach of legislation, case study, and historical approach. The results of this study Article 1 of the montevidio Convention states that there are four criteria that must be met by a new state to become a sovereign state, namely; the existence of a permanent population, Territory, government, and the capacity of the state as a support in relations with other countries. There is also a recognition of a state that is divided into two forms, namely de jure recognition and de facto, Palestine has been recognized de jure because in its practice as evidenced by conducting international agreements with several countries. The ICC has four types of jurisdiction: personal, criminal, temporal and territorial. Pleased that we can return to the automatic principle of locus delicti that Israel commits war crimes in the Palestinian territories and supported by the jurisdiction of the court, then the ICC is more than enough to judge Israel using the jurisdiction of the automatic principle contained the Rome statute of 1998. The unwilling and unable criteria can be extended by Article 13 of the 1998 Rome Statute, which states that the ICC has three powers to investigate international crimes, if there is a conviction that one or all of the parties committed international crimes in accordance with Article 5 of the 1998 Rome Statute.

Barriers to Elderly Health Care in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

This study examined different barriers to the access and utilization of primary health care services by the elderly in the occupied Palestinians territories. We collected quantitative data from a larger convenience sample of a national survey of 1299 persons in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) that examined the effects of Israel's colonization and its effects on health care delivery between October 2021 and February 2022. The research tool was based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) questionnaire. The data was obtained from 76 elderly participants with a mean age of 68.33 years standard deviation (SD = 7.09 years). The majority (75%) reported having at least one chronic health issue and having limited access to health care. They had all finished at least six years of education. The participants claimed having health insurance, while 47.4 percent reported paying for out-of-pocket expenses and medical care was a burden. Access and affordability of health care was a problem for 70 percent of participants. Older persons and their families face access to care issues created by political, geographic, and economic barriers. Poor incomes, war-like conditions, a weak health care system, and a lack of comprehensive care delivery all impact their health.

Relations Between Ukraine and Israel Within the Framework of the United Nations: Key Interests and Disagreements

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the formation and implementation of Ukraine's position on the issue of the Palestinian territories in UN institutions and Israel attitude toward russian invasion of Ukraine. There are important differences in the military and political interests of Ukraine and Israel. Thus, the institutions of the UN have become the international forum where the differences between Ukraine and Israel show themselves especially clearly. The author argues that Israel is interested in maintaining balanced relations with moscow, which has repeatedly prompted Israel to avoid supporting the organization's decisions in support of Ukraine at the UN. However, after the start of full-scale russian invasion, Israel supported most of the organization's resolutions for the support of Ukraine. In turn, Ukraine at the UN forms a position on the issue of the Palestinian territories in accordance with the norms of international law, a number of resolutions of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council, but this causes serious dissatisfaction of Israel government. The negative impact on the relations between Israel and russia of the intensification of Moscow's military-political cooperation with Tehran was also noted. May be supposed that a less cautious position of Israel in supporting Ukraine would be welcomed by Washington. Ukraine's rejection of its principled position regarding the occupied Palestinian territories would expose Kyiv to accusations of double standards, would undermine the position of Ukrainian diplomacy in efforts to exert international pressure upon russia regarding the occupied Ukrainian territories, and would have an unfavorable projection on our relations with many EU countries. However, Ukraine has some room for diplomatic maneuver in determining its position on this issue.

Meditations on ‘international friendship’: Situating twinning in global struggles for solidarity, recognition, and restitution

Abstract This article takes the practice of twinning as an entry point for problematising conventional accounts of ‘international friendship’ in the field of International Relations. In particular, the paper zeroes in on three examples of twinning practice, past and present, that have challenged the status quo: twinnings established in opposition to the Contra war in Nicaragua; twinning as an act of recognition for communities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and twinning as a vehicle for the recovery and return of sacred artefacts to post-colonial Kenya. Through these examples, it argues for an alternative conceptualisation of international friendship – one that pushes beyond the methodological nationalism and ontological rigidity of dominant approaches.

Effect of agricultural extension on technology adoption by Palestinian farmers under Israeli occupation in the West Bank

Even during the conflict, agricultural extension by the Palestinian Authority has played an important role in agricultural development in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The Ministry of Agriculture of the Palestinian Authority provided the necessary agricultural extension services for Palestinian farmers affected by the Israeli settlements and Segregation Wall. Despite such importance of agricultural extension, few quantitative studies have examined its effect on Palestinian farmers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify the effect of agricultural extension on technology adoption by Palestinian farmers for appropriate evaluation of the agricultural policies by the Palestinian Authority. The microdata of 79,446 agricultural holdings from the Agricultural Census 2010, which was the only microdata officially published and available at the time of this study, was used. Then, the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was employed to mitigate the endogenous bias caused by self-selection by farmers in receiving the agricultural extension. The results showed that agricultural extension has positively and significantly affected the adoption of five technologies, namely improved crop varieties, chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers, pesticides, and biological control. The estimated increase in the adoption rate of those technologies as the average treatment effects on the treated (ATT) by the nearest-neighbor matching method were by 7.1, 7.7, 5.4, 6.8, and 3.8 percentage points respectively. This study proved that agricultural extension promoted the adoption of those technologies even in the conflict. Therefore, agricultural extension by the Palestinian Authority plays an important role in farming by Palestinian farmers. In order to maintain and improve farmers’ livelihoods sustainably, it is necessary to continue the agricultural extension by the Palestinian Authority in the future, considering the behavior of farmers.

Protecting health facilities during wars in the COVID-19 era: A case study of the Indonesian Hospital in the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian Territories.

This case study aimed at assessing the impact of the May 2021 War on medical personnel who worked during the coronavirus pandemic. This study was conducted at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. This case study included a sample of 391 participants. Of these participants, 100 employees of the Indonesian Hospital were selected randomly. The results revealed that the war has affected social distancing practices and adherence to health guidelines related to the pandemic, an impossible luxury to a large degree, with a mean rate of 4.54. There was a sharp shortage of medical supplies and medicines that have been affected by the war, which in turn affected the treatment of patients with coronavirus with a mean rate of 4.54. In addition, the medical staff faced mild exposure to gases due to military actions, with a mean rate of 3.78. This study recommended that vulnerable countries should be protected under the International Humanitarian Law and be given the necessity of respecting and protecting healthcare. In addition, the denial of medical treatment may be considered cruel or inhumane behavior and an affront to human dignity, constituting war crimes as grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

The effect of corporate income tax on financial performance: Evidence from Palestine

The purpose of this study is to investigate the corporate income tax effect on the financial performance of Palestinian firms. As Palestinian firms exist in an unstable situation and political risk with a fluctuating economy. It is worth studying to what extent the performance of these firms is affected by the corporate income tax (CIT) imposed by the Palestinian authority. This study is using panel data from 20 listed non-financial Palestinian firms during the period from 2016 to 2020. The random-effects model is used to empirically determine the effect of corporate income tax on financial performance after controlling for the most comprehensive macroeconomic factors, which have not been studied in the Palestinian context yet. This paper reveals a significant negative relationship between CIT and a firm’s performance. In contrast, the asset turnover ratio showed a significant positive relationship with financial performance. However, firm size is unrelated to financial performance, it shows up an insignificant relationship with the performance of Palestinian firms. This study proposes a further examination of the relationship between CIT and performance by extending empirical research on CIT performance determination using a different technique. This paper fulfills an identified need to study how an effective tax rate policy imposed in the Palestinian territory can sustain firms’ performance.

Contested heritage in Susya: Asymmetry and possibilities for peace

Discussions about the role of heritage sites and practices in provoking conflict – or conversely, as opportunities for building peace – have gained new impetus in recent years. In this context, we discuss a site of contested heritage in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Susya national heritage site. The article first highlights the way this contestation relates to wider conflict over territory (as well as political, economic and cultural resources). Using oral histories gathered by Palestinian youth researchers, it then considers how heritage narratives reinforce or challenge competing claims to ‘belong’ in Susya against a backdrop of protracted conflict. Finally, the article asks whether such contested heritage sites could play a role as resources for peace by adopting a conflict transformational paradigm, and what the barriers are to this approach.

Education under Occupation in Palestine: Resilience and Resistance

Education under Occupation in Palestine: Resilience and Resistance

The Limitations of Deinstitutionalization: The Case of the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank

This essay examines the concept and limitations of deinstitutionalization as a principle and practice derived from Western paradigms, and how it has been problematically implemented in non-Western settings, ­including the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It begins by reviewing the international literature on deinstitutionalization of people with mental health illnesses/disabilities. It then examines the Palestinian experience with deinstitutionalization in the West Bank with an eye to its many limitations, in order to propose alternatives to successfully relocate people with ­mental health disabilities from hospitals to their communities, and to ensure for them a dignified life. The essay ends with an emphasis on this need in the ­Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories given the ongoing daily reality of Israeli military occupation and apartheid, which have had dire effects on Palestinians’ mental health.

Toponyms non geopolitics terms and it is natural linguistic patterns human rise

Today it is calling with Geopolitical clauses as Occupied Palestinian territory or Occupied West Bank because political tension race between local people and settlements everyday beyond hundreds ears. Indeed, East Jerusalem including Jericho oasis in the Jordan Valley the cradle human civilization and preserving ancient place-names in this area now extremely important for investigation native language of the first settlers. The main place names analyzed in the light of later sound-developments together with the comparative investigation of different areal forms. We, in this paper, no to do like criticize dear own colleague and always deeply respecting they as scholars in the field linguistic problems geographical names however. Sometimes, taking into consideration that geographical names represent historical and cultural heritage of the people, or reflecting evolution human been an earth.

Adaptations to comprehensive abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of provision in Bolivia, Mali, Nepal, and the occupied Palestinian territory

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted comprehensive abortion care provision. To maintain access to services while keeping individuals safe from infection, many organisations adapted their programmes. We conducted a programme evaluation to examine service adaptations implemented in Bolivia, Mali, Nepal, and the occupied Palestinian territory. Our programme evaluation used a case study approach to explore four programme adaptations through 14 group and individual interviews among 16 service providers, facility managers and representatives from supporting organisations. Data collection took place between October 2021 and January 2022. We identified adaptations to comprehensive abortion care services in relation to provision, health information systems and counselling, and referrals. Four overarching strategies emerged: (1) the use of digital technologies, (2) home and community outreach, (3) health worker optimisation, and (4) further consideration of groups in vulnerable situations. In Bolivia, the use of a messaging application increased access to confidential gender-based violence support and comprehensive abortion care. In Mali, the adoption of digital approaches created timely and complete data reporting and trained members of the community served as “interlocutors” between the communities and providers. In Nepal, an interim law expanded medical abortion provision to pharmacies, and home visits complemented facility-based services. In the occupied Palestinian territory, the use of a hotline and social media expanded access to quick and reliable information, counselling, referrals, and post-abortion care. Adaptations to comprehensive abortion care service delivery to mitigate disruptions to services during the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to benefit service quality of care, access to care, routine monitoring, as well as inclusivity and communication in the longer term.

Conflicts in the Middle East and Prospects for their Resolution

The article analyzes the origins, causes, a brief history, participants, external players of regional confl icts in the Middle East, development dynamics and prospects for their resolution. The author comes to the conclusion that by now most of the Middle East protracted confl icts have been frozen, but there are sporadic outbreaks of violence and provocations, accompanied by mutual rocket and artillery strikes and shelling. Mostly, such incidents take place on Israel's borders with the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria. The Israeli Air Force is carrying out missile and bomb strikes against military facilities and pro-Iranian military groups in Lebanon and Syria. The Turkish authorities, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, carry out military punitive operations in northern Syria and Iraq, as a result, there are casualties among the Kurdish militias and civilians in the border areas. Local skirmishes and exchanges of blows between US military personnel and Iranian proxy forces in Syria and Iraq do not stop. Missile and drone attacks also target oil and gas production facilities, tankers of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian and Oman Gulfs. In general, a fairly high level of terrorist threat remains in the region. The author believes that the weakening of the position of the United States and its Western allies in the Middle East, the course taken by the countries of the region to diversify their external relations through rapprochement with China, India, and Russia creates good prerequisites for the peaceful resolution of protracted confl icts. This is also facilitated by the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel, Saudi Arabia with Iran, the establishment of relations with an increasing number of Arab countries with Israel, the return of Syria to the League of Arab States, etc. At the same time, sharp disagreements and fundamental contradictions remain between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, in particular, over the status of Jerusalem, the occupied Palestinian territories and Israeli settlement activity. Lebanon and Syria have territorial claims to Israel. So far, the process of a Middle East settlement under the auspices of the UN and the quartet of international mediators has been frozen. And if Riyadh and Tehran were still able to overcome the confrontation and, with the mediation of China, Iraq and Oman, began to restore previously broken relations, then the confrontation with elements of a hybrid war between Iran and Israel remains and is fraught with escalation into an armed conflict. In recent years, the unresolved Kurdish problem has become more and more acute. Deprived by Western politicians of the right to establish their own state, the multi-million Kurdish people found themselves divided by the borders of four states, whose authorities are pursuing a clearly discriminatory policy towards their Kurdish minorities. On the agenda is the struggle of the Kurds for equal rights and freedoms with the so-called titular nations (Turks, Arabs, Persians), and in the future the creation of Kurdish autonomous regions or subjects of federations. The author comes to the conclusion that the growing trend towards a multipolar world order dictates the need for a peaceful resolution of regional conflicts and long-term enmity of peoples, creates objective prerequisites for establishing their mutually beneficial cooperation, regardless of national, ethnic, confessional affiliation.The time of domination in the countries of the third world of the colonial principle "divide and conquer" is coming to an end.

Contribution to the Occurrence of the Blackfly (Diptera:Similiidae) in the Palestinian Territories, West Bank

Aims: The primary objective of the study was to gather evidence regarding the presence of black fly fauna in the Palestinian environment. The research extensively examined breeding sites and habitats, as well as studied the physiochemical parameters of the water in these breeding sites. Furthermore, the study assessed the potential impacts of these insects on both humans and animals
 Study Design: A cross- sectional study.
 Place and Duration of Study: From January 2023 to August 2023, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in the West Bank-Salfit district to collect larvae and adult blackflies within the Wadi Qana protected area.
 Methodology: In January 2023, a field survey was conducted in the Wadi Qana protected area (32.12582, 34.8952) in the Salfit district to study the freshwater fauna. A total of 220 larvae individual of the Blackfly were collected from the running water in the valley. Forceps used to collect specimens and preserved in 70% ethanol, while adults of this group were examined under a dissecting microscope. The specimens were identified using various identification keys [4,9,12].
 Results: During the study period, a total of 220 larvae were collected from breeding sites in the freshwater habitats of Wadi Qana. Two subgenera of blackflies were identified in the study area: Simulium (Wilhelmia) Enderlein and Simulium (Odgamia) Enderlein. The results indicate that blackflies breed in fast-flowing freshwater habitats covered by annual aquatic plants, with dissolved oxygen levels at 10.1 mg/L, pH average 8.2 and average temperature 21.6°C.
 No significant health effects were recorded or documented in the study area, except for the nuisance caused to humans and animals by the biting of blackflies.
 In conclusion, this study marks the first record and presence of the blackfly in the Palestinian environment. Further much more research is needed to explore their fauna, biology, ecology, habitats, distribution, and medical significance.
 Conclusion: blackfly was recorded for the first time in the Palestinian environment, more study research are needed to discussed the fauna, biology, ecology, habitats, distribution and the medically important.

The impact of access to electricity on mental health in conflict-affected territories: An exploratory study in Gaza.

Access to affordable and clean energy is an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals and a determinant of physical and mental health. However, the occupied Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, has experienced prolonged issues with electricity, water and gas supplies. This has significantly impacted on daily life and the area is on the verge of disaster. This research focused on the mental health effects of the lack of electricity in Gaza which have not been previously documented. A cross-sectional analytic approach was adopted. A survey was administrated face-to-face with respondents from 350 participating households. Inferential statistical analysis was used to examine the relationship between the domains of anxiety, depression, wellbeing and electricity supply factors. A multiple linear regression model was also utilised. There is a highly statistically significant link between continuity of electricity and level of anxiety (p < .001). The same effect was reported in the level of depression, and a higher level was observed among residents with an intermittent or disrupted electricity supply, with a statistically significant link between the level of depression and continuity of electricity. Electricity issues, especially when combined with other stressors associated with living in Gaza, lead to serious mental health concerns. Urgent attention must be given to developing sustainable, reliable and affordable energy supplies for short- and long-term health and community development.