Towns In Israel Research Articles

Correction: The effect of social service elite groups on long-time residents in peripheral development towns in Israel

Correction: The effect of social service elite groups on long-time residents in peripheral development towns in Israel

Quality of Life for People with Mental Illness Employed in Extended Employment Programs in two Arab Towns in Israel: An Exploratory Study

Quality of Life for People with Mental Illness Employed in Extended Employment Programs in two Arab Towns in Israel: An Exploratory Study

Quality of life for people with psychiatric disabilities employed in extended employment programs in two Arab towns in Israel: an exploratory study.

This study aims to examine the quality of life (QOL) for people with psychiatric disabilities who are engaged in extended employment programs (homogeneous versus heterogeneous) in the Arab-populated Triangle Area of Israel. The homogeneous program participants are exclusively Arab while the heterogeneous program includes both Arabs and Jews. Quantitative research study of 104 adults with psychiatric disabilities engaged in two communal extended employment programs. Participants completed demographic (age (years), gender, marital status (married, widowed/separated, married, single), religion (Muslim, Jewish, Christian), dichotomous nationality variable (Jewish/Arab), and years of education) and employment questionnaires (length of time in the employment program, number of working days/h and salary satisfaction); SF 12 Scale; and The Personal Wellbeing Index questionnaire. Two-sample T-Test, exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regressions were conducted for tracking the differences between participants in homogeneous and heterogeneous programs. A significant difference was found between the programs in two QOL components, insofar as satisfaction with the standard of living, together with health satisfaction were rated higher for participants in the heterogeneous program than for their homogeneous program counterparts. Furthermore, the results indicate that physical health and gender were the most important variables in explaining QOL in both programs, while the employment variables were not significant. Since the research findings show that the employment-related-items aren't significant in predicting the employees' QOL, the definition and suitability of extended employment environments as a mental health service must be reexamined. Cultural elements may also have an impact on QOL when the programs are located in a traditional town, with gender playing a key role. The family's role is pivotal in traditional societies, influencing an individual's ability to participate in employment programs and the support they receive. In patriarchal societies, there can be added pressure on men with psychiatric disabilities to conform to societal expectations. Given the general lack of health awareness in Arab communities, there is a need to develop additional projects or incorporate physical health improvement as a rehabilitation goal when working with individuals with psychiatric disabilities, regardless of the type of community rehabilitation program.

The effect of social service elite groups on long-time residents in peripheral development towns in Israel

The effect of social service elite groups on long-time residents in peripheral development towns in Israel

Perceptions of violence and mistrust in authorities among Palestinians in Israel, an unrecognised public health crisis: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundBetween 1948 and 2020, Palestinians living in Israel have seen an 11-times increase in population density. Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) comprise 20% of the population, restricted to living in 2·7% of the land. The effects of the resulting overcrowding are spatial, political, cultural, economic, and administrative and are also associated with intracommunal crime and violence. Between 2000–17, from 122 annual homicide cases in Israel, 79 (65%) victims were PCI. Palestinians have a 5·5 times higher risk of dying from homicide than Jewish citizens of Israel. 2021 saw a peak in homicide rates, where 126 (74%) of the 170 homicide cases in Israel were among PCI. 83% of homicides among PCI were a result of gunshots, with more than 400 000 illegal firearms estimated to circulate among the Palestinian community in Israel. Yet, only 23% of homicide cases among PCI were solved by the police compared with 73% of cases among Jewish citizens of Israel. This study examines the attitudes of PCI towards violence, crime, safety, and trust in the Israeli police. MethodsWe did a cross-sectional study; the survey form included demographic data and questions about exposure and attitudes towards safety, violence, crime, and the police and government handling of crime. Participants were all PCI living in Palestinian towns and in mixed cities in Palestinian neighbourhoods. Participants were randomly chosen from 68 towns, and conducted in private homes by trained surveyors. The study sample was a stratified multi-stage random sample, divided into four levels of stratification: region (north, centre, or south of Israel), community size (small [<5000], medium [5000–15 000], or large [>15 000]), locality classification (cities or villages), and locality type (recognised and unrecognised as official towns by the state). The main outcomes assessed were participant perceptions of the prevalence in violence among PCI and the authorities’ commitment to curb it. The Galilee Society Ethics Committee approved the study and informed consent was obtained from all participants. FindingsInterviews were done in 2040 households housing 7985 family members, recruited and interviewed in 2018. Personal interviews were conducted with one person per family. Of these 2040 interviews, 1970 interviews were included in the analysis. 1283 (65·1%) of 1970 participants estimated the prevalence of violence as being high or moderate in their towns. 958 (48·6%) participants estimated that violence has increased in their town during the past year. 1062 (53·9%) participants that they could be a possible target of violence. 1027 (52·1%) participants reported that crime is the biggest problem that the Palestinian community in Israel faces, followed by racist laws (436 [22·1%]) and the difficult economic situation (282 [14·3%]). 1474 (74·8%) participants reported that the use of weapons has become normal in everyday disputes. 1496 (75·9%) reported that the state is interested in the spread of violence in the Palestinian towns in Israel. 1728 (87·7%) participants stated that an absence of governmental interest in addressing the problem of unauthorised weapons is the cause of their spread, and 1634 (82·9%) participants stated that police complicity is a cause of the spread of unauthorised weapons. 1411 (71·6%) participants disagreed with the statement that the Israeli police deals with violence seriously. InterpretationPCI perceive a high exposure to violence within their communities, with most participants reporting that communal violence is linked to the Israeli government and police being disinterested in addressing the problem, and the complicity of the Israeli police (which reflects a mistrust in the Israeli government and police force, and that crime among PCI becomes a justification to further criminalise, stigmatise, and police these communities). Given that violence, crime, and homicide are major causes of morbidity and mortality and thus urgent public health problems, every effort should be made to advocate for addressing these problems among PCI, especially among medical and health-care communities. FundingGalilee Society and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Impact of a Positive Classroom Climate on Sixth Graders’ Motivation to Learn Mathematics at Northern Israel’s Arab Minority Schools

This study aimed to investigate the impact of a positive classroom climate on sixth graders’ motivation to learn mathematics in Northern Israel’s Arab minority schools. The study sample consisted of 50 students of the Sixth Grade in the primary stage in two Arab minority towns in Israel’s northern region. The central research hypothesis touched on how much the classroom climate affects students’ motivation to learn mathematics from the point of view of sixth graders in Northern Israel. The research incorporated the descriptive analytical approach that describes the phenomenon as in reality, and expresses it quantitatively and qualitatively. Based on the results of the research, the research hypothesis was realized, which indicates that a healthy, supportive, and compassionate classroom climate positively affects students’ motivation to learn mathematics. The research points to the importance of an effective classroom climate in the educational process and in students’ motivation to learn. The paper contributes to the academic community by asserting that a positive atmosphere in the classroom seems to lead to better interaction between students and a more comprehensive possibility of expression, and has the potential to reduce the level of violence between them.

Can greater access to secondary health care decrease health inequality? Evidence from bus line introduction to Arab towns in Israel

Health inequality can affect economic productivity, labor force participation, or the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Health disparities based on socioeconomic ranking are widely documented, but there is also growing evidence of disparities based on geographic locality. This paper investigates a potential contributing factor to socioeconomic and geographic-based health inequality: access to secondary health care. We exploit bus line introductions to Arab towns in Israel, which substantially increased secondary health care access among a mostly disadvantaged population, and find that older adult reporting of chronic health conditions increased in the short term. However, this effect fades away in the long run. We argue that greater chronic condition rates in the short term reflect higher diagnosis rates resulting from increased access to health care professionals rather than health deterioration. This effect weakens in the long run when the benefits of greater access to health care offset the higher diagnosis rates.

The Trade‐Off Between Work and Education: Evidence from Public Transportation Penetration to Arab Towns in Israel

AbstractDisadvantaged communities are often geographically segregated from employment and higher education opportunities. Increasing access can entail substantial welfare gains, but this can also affect the trade‐off faced by young adults between investing in higher education and working for pay. We evaluate the introduction of bus services to Arab towns in Israel, which substantially and differentially increased access either to work only or to work and higher education opportunities among a disadvantaged population. Exploiting the variation that different bus line connections created in the cost of accessing higher education institutions, we find that young adult male responses are consistent with a trade‐off between investing in higher education and working for pay. For females, our results are less clear‐cut and while there is evidence of responses in terms of the probability of currently studying, we do not observe sufficiently concise labor market responses. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for potential reductions in educational attainment when expanding work opportunities to disadvantaged communities.

Foregone and predicted futures: challenges of opportunity cost neglect and impact bias for public participation in policymaking

ABSTRACT Deliberative democracy fosters greater involvement of the public in policymaking. However, psychological challenges involved in eliciting policy preferences receive little attention in this context. This study addresses the implications of opportunity cost neglect (OCN) and impact bias for policy preferences. Utilizing a survey experiment among residents of peripheral towns in Israel, we examine preferences regarding investment in rail infrastructure in peripheral areas. In line with psychological studies on OCN, we find evidence that priming awareness to alternatives can de-bias OCN in policy preferences. However, this method is less effective for people who exhibit impact bias (respondents for whom the policy is new), presenting a serious challenge to the validity of policy preferences of those who are expected to be most affected by the considered policy. This paper offers a theoretical contribution to the relationship between OCN and impact bias, and discusses the practical implications for public participation in policymaking.

Jaffa Port, Israel

The material extant of the fortifications of Jaffa, the physical markers of memory, narrates the contrasting status and evolution of one of the oldest port towns in Israel: from grandiose to decline, from thriving multicultural neighbourhoods to immigrant communities over time, from town centre to marginalised significance and shifting centralities in the wake of political and economic events. Its town centre, propagating social interaction, existed through complex and evolving agricultural, industrial, and residential land uses. This port town bears a testimony to the dynamic and enormous shifts in land use, communities, and collective social memory. The alternate port of Tel Aviv came into existence during the revolt in 1936-39 by Arabs of Mandatory Palestine. The drastic decline of the Arab population in Jaffa and its environs and the rise in the Jewish population in the new modern city of Tel Aviv was an antagonistic process of negation and exclusion. The asymmetric planning of Tel Aviv that emerged in the early 1900s identified it as uncivilised geography, turning into a dilapidated district. Communal and national identities were built on the premise of antithesis giving rise to significant demographic transformations. This socio-spatial metamorphosis of Tel Aviv-Jaffa became a representational space leading to physical and cognitive boundaries evident in the planning policies. Since the mid-1980s, the spatial overturns have led to the radical restructuring of the urban space through gentrification with political and socio-economic implications such as population displacement and the production of urban alterities. This oxymoron of creative destruction suggests the tensions at the heart of urban life that embodies the erasure and re-inscription of culture and economics. This article will explore the historical evolution of the old port town, cultural geography, and the current state of exclusion and gentrification in Jaffa, and underlines the need for discourse on socio-spatial analysis and assessment for decision-making processes for urban heritage design.

Global ideas and cultural responsiveness: why new towns in Israel and Brazil are not the same

ABSTRACT This paper explores how local culture may curb the homogenizing forces of globalization in the diffusion of planning ideas. Given that the built environment is constructed both physically and culturally, this paper draws a comparative case study of territorial planning and the creation of new towns in Israel and Brazil in the mid-twentieth century. The private colonization scheme in northern Paraná state, in Brazil, and the Physical Planning in Israel were both based on widely influential ideas collected in the Greater London Plan 1944. Although the resulting regional strategies were similar, their urban forms differed largely due to their unique modes of being-in-the-world. While the Israeli new towns acclimatized the physical aspects of garden cities for ideological reasons, the Brazilian new cities stuck to a more practical gridiron layout. As a conclusion, this study illustrates how culturally sensitive projects gave local form to ideas and models that had been diffused through global interconnectivity.

Older Adult Health Following Greater Access to Secondary Health Care: Evidence from Bus Service Introductions to Arab Towns in Israel

How much can socioeconomically-based health disparities be attributed to differential access to secondary and specialist health care? We evaluate this question in the context of Arab-Jewish health disparities in Israel while exploiting the introduction of public transportation to Arab communities. Primary care health services are readily available within Arab towns and the introduction of bus services increased residents' access to secondary health services that are almost exclusively available only outside their towns. In the short term older adults reported higher probabilities of being diagnosed with common health conditions, such as heart problems or high cholesterol, and rare health conditions. In the longer term – more than two years following the initial introduction of public transportation to one's town – there were reductions in overweight and mostly null effects on diagnosis-based health conditions. Coupled with an analysis on mortality rates, our results suggest that the higher rates of chronic conditions in the short term are due to higher diagnosis rates rather than health deterioration. However, this effect is weaker in the long run when the benefits of greater access to health care facilities offset the higher diagnosis rates.

Policing the Palestinian National Minority in Israel: An International Human Rights Perspective

Palestinians make up 64% of homicide victims in Israel, even though they constitute 20% of the population. The homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Arab towns in Israel is 5.5 times higher than in Jewish towns. The turbulent relationship between the police and Palestinian minority is a key factor for understanding high crime rates in Arab towns. This relationship can by characterised by over-policing political activities and under-policing ordinary crime. This article analyses the policing of the Palestinian minority in Israel from a human rights perspective. It suggests that the policing of the Palestinian citizens in Israel is inconsistent with international human rights standards. Furthermore, eradicating institutional bias against the Palestinian citizens within the police force requires broader political and constitutional changes.

Digesting the Massacre: Food Tours in Palestinian Towns in Israel

Guided food tours of Israeli Jews to Palestinian towns in Israel are increasing in popularity in recent years. Indeed, the relations between Jews and Palestinians in Israel are often negotiated through the plate, and such food tours allow these relationships to be examined by both local Palestinian hosts and their Israeli-Jewish guests. In this article, I argue that food tours in Palestinian towns in Israel allow Palestinian citizens of Israel to express controversial sociopolitical messages and discuss them with Israeli-Jewish participants thanks to the unique characteristics of food tourism: a multisensory experience for tourists that creates value for the destination and its residents. I demonstrate how the practice of exploring and blurring symbolic boundaries through these tours creates a space that facilitates the delivery of explicit and implicit messages regarding civil rights issues, and even highly explosive topics such as national identity. The innocuous and ostensibly apolitical nature of food allows Israeli-Jewish tourists to come to terms, at least to a certain extent, with messages that may contradict some of the significant Zionist-Jewish narratives. This article is based on ethnography conducted from 2015–17 in Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian town in Israel. I joined “Ramadan Nights” tours that sought to present the customs of the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar in which, according to religion, Muslims fast from morning until nightfall. I show how the tour facilitates the “digestion” of messages that many Israeli Jews would otherwise find hard to accept, such as the massacre of forty-nine dwellers of Kafr Qasim by the Israeli military in 1956. I conclude by discussing the use of food and hospitality as a means of creating intimacy and challenging power relations and their role in facilitating the digestion of difficult messages.

From Haifa to Ramallah (and Back): New/Old Palestinian Literary Topography

This article explores border crossing and the Palestinian city as a literary metropolis—two major themes in the works of emerging Palestinian novelists in Israel. It looks at the “re-Palestinization” of urban space by writers who belong to a post-Oslo generation of Palestinian intellectuals that left villages and small towns in Israel to go and study, work, and live in the city. What distinguishes the literature of this generation is its negotiation of border crossing in a fragmented geography and its engagement with the city as a space of paradoxical encounter between a national imaginary and a settler-colonial reality. Based on a critical reading of their works, the article argues that Adania Shibli and Ibtisam Azem challenge colonial border discourse, exposing the ongoing Zionist erasure of the Palestinian city and creating a new topography for Palestinian literature. The article also traces the role of these writers in the “twinning” of Haifa and Ramallah starting in the late 1990s, and it examines how this literary and cultural “sisterhood” informs spatial resistance.

Connecting Disadvantaged Communities to Work and Higher Education Opportunities: Evidence from Public Transportation Penetration to Arab Towns in Israel

Disadvantaged communities are often geographically segregated from employment and higher education opportunities. Increasing access can entail substantial welfare gains, but this can also affect the tradeoff faced by young adults between investing in higher education and working for pay. We evaluate the introduction of bus services to Arab towns in Israel, which substantially and differentially increased access either to work only or to work and higher education opportunities among a disadvantaged population. Exploiting the variation that different bus line connections created in the opportunity cost of schooling, we find that young adult responses are consistent with a tradeoff between investing in higher education and working for pay. For females, under certain circumstances, there is a simultaneous decrease in both labor market and educational attainment outcomes. We argue that this is due to a combination of a household income effect and social stigma that is associated with female labor force participation. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for potential reductions in educational attainment when expanding work opportunities to disadvantaged communities and that traditional barriers can play a large role in female integration into the labor market.

Gender relations in Bedouin communities in Israel: local government as a site of ambivalent modernity

In this article, we examine the perceptions towards women and gender relations maintained by male, local authority officials within two Bedouin towns in Israel. As such, the current research lies at the intersection of local politics, gender, space and culture. We argue that analysis of these perspectives provides insights into the ambivalent nature of modernity: into the tension between the desire to preserve the traditional role of women in maintaining the family, and the recognition of the powerful potential of women to act as agents of change. Based on an analysis of personal interviews, the study traces the ways in which both power and vulnerability impact the attitudes and perspectives of these men officials. By applying narrative analysis, gendered power structures are examined within Bedouin society in the context of the local authority – zooming in on the narratives provided by the male authority officials. The findings reveal that the officials maintain a series of ambivalent and conflictual attitudes towards the role of women. Bearing in mind their potential impact on the quality of women's daily lives in local public spaces, it seems vitally important to account for the entire matrix of tensions and vulnerabilities that impact the municipal policy instruments at their disposal. The findings are relevant beyond the Bedouin communities in Israel and may serve as a platform for a wider discussion of the dilemmas of minority women in rapidly changing cultural environments, and ambivalent modernity.

Back to the Land

Back to the Land

From abstract principles to specific urban order: Applying complexity theory for analyzing Arab-Palestinian towns in Israel

This paper uses complexity theory to analyze the urban order and development of Arab Palestinian villages and towns in Israel. It follows the spontaneous emergence of abstract planning codes and principles, influenced by changing social, political and cultural dynamics. Based on a morphological analysis of 77 towns in northern and central Israel, and an in-depth investigation conducted in the city of Sakhnin, in the central Galilee, the paper reveals a repeated three-ring structure, corresponding to three socio-political periods. We offer a detailed examination of the links between social values and spatial conduct, thus enabling us to follow how slight changes in social and economic circumstances affect planning principles. In addition, the paper highlights the power of planning-without-a-plan as a method that facilitates shaping the quality of the built environment while allowing local adaptation and creativity. Finally, we discuss the problematic urban pattern created in the typical third ring, which is a top-to-bottom product of modern planning thought.

Community Resilience throughout the Lifespan--The Potential Contribution of Healthy Elders.

An increase in the exposure and predisposition of civilian populations to disasters has been recorded in the last decades. In major disasters, as demonstrated recently in Nepal (2015) and previously in Haiti (2010), external aid is vital, yet in the first hours after a disaster, communities must usually cope alone with the challenge of providing emergent lifesaving care. Communities therefore need to be prepared to handle emergency situations. Mapping the needs of the populations within their purview is a trying task for decision makers and community leaders. In this context, the elderly are traditionally treated as a susceptible population with special needs. The current study aimed to explore variations in the level of community resilience along the lifespan. The study was conducted in nine small to mid-size towns in Israel between August and November 2011 (N = 885). The Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM), a validated instrument for community resilience assessment, was used to examine the association between age and community resilience score. Statistical analysis included spline and logistic regression models that explored community resiliency over the lifespan in a way that allowed flexible modeling of the curve without prior constraints. This innovative statistical approach facilitated identification of the ages at which trend changes occurred. The study found a significant rise in community resiliency scores in the age groups of 61–75 years as compared with younger age bands, suggesting that older people in good health may contribute positively to building community resiliency for crisis. Rather than focusing on the growing medical needs and years of dependency associated with increased life expectancy and the resulting climb in the proportion of elders in the population, this paper proposes that active "young at heart" older people can be a valuable resource for their community.