West Bank Research Articles

Settler colonialism and the environment in Al-Walaja, Palestine

ABSTRACT It is now widely acknowledged in the scholarship that Israel maintains a settler colonial regime, which has resulted in pervasive human rights abuses. However, the relation between ecology and settler colonialism in Palestine-Israel has only recently been subject to significant scholarly theorisation, despite the growing field of environmental colonialism and the present ecological crisis. This article adds to the limited field of eco-social and ecological settler colonial study of Palestine-Israel through the case study of Al-Walaja, a village in the illegally occupied West Bank, bordering the suburbs of East Jerusalem. Al-Walaja, a village known for its natural beauty and rich agricultural heritage, particularly its ancient terraced agriculture, has been transformed by Israeli settler colonial dispossession, which has claimed 89 per cent of the village’s land since 1947. This paper explores how settler colonialism and ecology intersect in Al-Walaja. First, by arguing that Al-Walaja is an example of the greenwashing and green grabbing practices that Israel uses to normalise the dispossession of Palestinians and obscure colonisation and environmental harms. Second, it examines how environmental harms, in particular restrictions on building in the village, cause the perpetuation of a settler colonial declensionist narrative and settler-native binary. Lastly, the decline of agriculture in Al-Walaja is contextualised in terms of the normalisation and erasure inherent to settler colonial projects.

Predictors of anemia among infants at the age of one year attending health centers in the West Bank/Palestine: a retrospective study

BackgroundAnemia is a major problem among infants aged under 1 year. There are limited studies in Palestine about anemia among infants. Thus, this study aimed to address this gap.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted. A review of 1249 infants recorded in primary health centers of the West Bank, Palestine was performed during the period from January to December 2022. The collected data included sociodemographic factors, feeding practices, and hemoglobin levels. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and binary logistic regression were performed to analyze the data.ResultsThe findings showed that 35.2% of infants were anemic, of which 67.2% had mild anemia. The detrimental predictors for anemia were introducing complementary feeding earlier than six months of age, receiving exclusive bottle feeding with complementary feeding (solid or semisolid) at 12 months, and low family income. While receiving exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding at 12 months was a protective predictor.ConclusionHealthcare professionals should develop intervention programs to enhance hemoglobin levels and decrease anemia among infants while considering correlating factors.

Between Rules and Implementation: The Difficulty in Relying on International Law in Military Courts in Criminal Law

Abstract The West Bank, also referred to as Judea and Samaria, has been subject to belligerent occupation since 1967, and its legal framework is grounded primarily in international law. This legal foundation of belligerent occupation emanates from the international law of occupation, which regulates the legislative, judicial and executive powers of the occupying state in the occupied territory. However, the utilisation of international law in adjudicating criminal matters within military courts in this region is sporadic. The underlying reasons for this practice call for inquiry and prompt a reconsideration of the optimal configuration of the legal regime. This article contends that despite a recent uptake in integrating international law into military court decisions, its effectiveness in addressing criminal issues within these courts is limited. Moreover, in most cases presented before military courts, international law lags behind domestic legal doctrines, including Israeli criminal law. Despite its overarching authority, international law falls short of providing a pragmatic solution to the challenges confronted by military courts. Consequently, these courts are compelled to turn to alternative legal sources. The article proposes an integrated model, advocating reliance on international law for fundamental, constitutional-level issues while deferring to the Israeli criminal justice system for specific practical criminal matters.

The “One Carceral State”: Mass Incarceration and Carceral Citizenship in Palestine/Israel

Abstract Using the concept of the carceral state, this article articulates how Israel’s control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has shifted to a nondemocratic one-state paradigm. While, initially, Israel operated a separate military carceral system for these areas, between 2000 and 2006 it dismantled the military system, transferred most Palestinian prisoners into Israel, and rebranded its civilian prison service as the National Prison Authority, making it the sole agency responsible for the incarceration of Palestinians. This reorganization consolidated a single carceral system inside Israeli territory—the one carceral state— which serves as crucial evidence of the de facto one-state paradigm and forms a centerpiece of this new regime in Israel/Palestine. By analyzing a broad range of archival and administrative documents and 168 Supreme Court decisions on the management of prisons and Palestinian prisoners, this study reveals how the massive “exclusionary inclusion” of the Palestinian prisoner population in Israeli state law and its administrative mechanisms changes the entire landscape of the Israeli settler-colonial citizenship regime. Palestinian prisoners become “carceral citizens” of the “one state” and are subject to a parallel, alternate legality, in which they expand their repertoire of resistance against the wider racialized and repressive regime across Palestine/Israel.

Israel, Annexation, and Sovereignty: Within the Green Line and Across It

Abstract From the early years of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, observers predicted that their de facto annexation might occur. Fifty-seven years later, it has happened. Although governed differently than other zones within the Israeli state, neither territory can be separated from Israel. Yet, the territories’ official status is that they are not part of the state. We offer four reinforcing analyses—legal, historical, discursive, and political—of this sustained discrepancy between what is and what is officially said to be. By analyzing Israel’s juridical techniques for regularizing the incorporation of territories occupied beginning in 1948, we show that de facto annexation has been Israel’s predominant form of territorial expansion. This helps account for the failure to implement de jure annexation, the intensity of conflict over attempts to overhaul the Israeli judiciary, and debates over the future of postwar Gaza.

Factors correlating work engagement among Palestinian emergency nurses during Gaza war in the West Bank.

Work engagement among emergency nurses is a critical issue that adversely affects the quality of patient care and productivity. Psychological reactions (e.g., stress, anxiety, and depression) and resilience correlated with work engagement. This study addresses the gap in understanding the factors correlating work engagement among. emergency nurses in the West Bank during the Gaza War. A descriptive correlational design was used. The data were collected from 378 emergency nurses from governmental and private hospitals in the West Bank using a self-reported questionnaire from December 2023 to February 2024. Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) were used to assess the study variables. The findings demonstrated that 71.7%, 52.9%, 42.5%, 55.6%, and 40.0% of the emergency nurses reported severe to extremely severe stress, moderate to extremely severe levels of anxiety, severe to extremely severe levels of depression, low resilience, and low to extremely low levels of job engagement, respectively. A positive relationship existed between work engagement and age (r=0.407, p<0.01), years of experience (r=0.385, p<0.01), and resilience (r=0.419, p<0.01). While, work engagement negatively correlated with stress (r=-0.486, p<0.01), anxiety (r=-0.616, p<0.01), and depression (r=-0.632, p<0.01). The findings indicated that policymakers and healthcare professionals should promote initiatives that enhance nurses' resilience and mitigate psychological responses to improve work engagement. Therapeutic programs should consider the situational variations of Palestinian society, encompassing resilience, coping mechanisms, and psychological management approaches.

Urban core greening and industrial decentralization lead to contrasting trends in surface urban heat islands in a metropolitan area in China.

Surface urban heat islands (SUHI) in urban agglomerations display diverse spatiotemporal patterns, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions, where these patterns are not well understood. This study examined the spatiotemporal trends of SUHI intensity (SUHII) on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary, China, from 1990 to 2020, focusing on spatial variations within urban core (UC) and urban expansion (UE) areas and their driving mechanisms. Results show that urban areas expanded rapidly, leading to the formation of a regional heat island, with SUHI intensity varying across the region and the hottest areas shifting from the UC to the UE. In the UE, SUHII increased significantly due to farmland conversion to impervious surfaces and a decline in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), driven by industrial suburbanization. In contrast, SUHII in the UC exhibited a marked decline, attributable to increased vegetation greening and urban renewal initiatives. These findings reveal long-term trends in SUHI evolution and underscore the significant impact of industrial decentralization and urban renewal on the SUHII dynamics. The study provides critical insights for urban planning and strategies to mitigate SUHI in metropolitan regions.

Between Colonialism and Patriarchy: The Role of Agency Among Palestinian Women in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Between Colonialism and Patriarchy: The Role of Agency Among Palestinian Women in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Attitudes of Nursing Students towards Individuals with Mental Illness before and after Attending the Mental Health Nursing Course: comparative study

Background: Psychiatry nurses are an integral component of a multidisciplinary mental health-care team. This study aims to investigate the level of attitude toward mental illness among nursing students before and after psychiatric nursing course. Method: A descriptive design was utilized in this study. Total sample was 303 nursing students the sample included all 3rd and fourth year students who did not study psychiatric nursing course 103 nursing student and 200 study psychiatric nursing in west bank university. tools were utilized to measure the variables of the study: Personal data questionnaire, attitudes toward mental health nursing.Results: nursing students who did not attend the psychiatric course reported a moderate level of attitude toward mental illness. While, the study showed that the nursing students who attended the psychiatric nursing course reported a high level of attitudes toward mental illness. The study also found that there are significant statistical differences among nursing students who have taken the psychiatric course and who have not taken the course regarding attitudes toward mental illness, when the differences were in favor of the students who have attended the psychiatric nursing course. Results showed that gender, age, place of residence, and university were not significant variables among nursing students, who did not attend the psychiatric course, while experience with someone who suffering from mental health conditions was a significant variable. Whereas, gender, age, university, and experience with someone who suffering from mental health condition were not significant variables among nursing students who attended the psychiatric course, but Place of Residence showed significant differences, in favor of students who are living in camps. Conclusions: The need for the psychiatric nursing course to be mandatory educated for nursing students and other healthcare professions. Due to its importance into providing enrich and empower information for students.

Multidimensional vulnerability and financial risk protection in health in contexts of protracted conflict: Evidence from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

This paper proposes a multidimensional vulnerability index for a setting of protracted conflict, which is applied to study the relationship between financial vulnerability and catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) incidence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in 2018. We find that our index better captures the extent of financial risk protection in health compared to conventional measures of financial welfare. Results indicate that the most vulnerable groups experience a significantly higher likelihood of incurring CHE, and this likelihood is increased for those living in the West Bank compared to the Gaza Strip. We also find a lack of protection from existing health insurance types against the risk of CHE. Our analysis provides valuable insights about key aspects, such as health financing and insurance bottlenecks, that will deserve careful policy attention in efforts to rebuild the Palestinian health system, following the Israel-Hamas war.

Prevalence, determinants and impact of urinary incontinence on quality of life among Palestinian postpartum women: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesUrinary incontinence (UI) is prevalent among women, particularly during the postpartum period, impacting various aspects of quality of life (QoL). The objectives of this study are to determine the prevalence...

Adaptive leadership practices and their relationship to the performance of school teachers in the West Bank - Palestine

Leadership is one of the crucial matters that determine the work of educational institutions. As it provides a good framework for principals to improve teachers’ performance. The study aim is to Examining the relationship between adaptive leadership practices and the performance of school teachers in Palestine. mixed method was used. 245 questionnaires were distributed, answered by 245 male and female teachers in the West Bank using a simple random sample. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 school principals and 15 teachers using a purposive sample. The results showed that adaptive leadership behaviors that affect teacher performance in schools are poor, with the average response for the overall score of 2.56. The results were indicated that there are positive adaptive leadership practices that have an impact on teacher performance, such as (supporting teacher professional development, encouraging teamwork and cooperation among teachers, and emphasizing empathy). It was also found that the performance of school teachers was average, the average total response was 3.095, and a statistically significant positive relationship was found between adaptive leadership and the job performance of school teachers in Palestine (r = 0.63; p ≥ 0.01). This study has practical implications for educational policymakers and school leaders, emphasizing the importance of developing adaptive leadership competencies to improve teacher effectiveness and, by extension, student results.

Rebel Attentiveness

Living under Israeli occupation, Palestinians face countless controls over their daily lives and movement. This research focuses on the reflections of cycling group founders and participants in the occupied West Bank, who ride despite efforts by the Israeli occupation to control and limit Palestinians’ movements. Cycling groups bring Palestinians together to connect to the land and each other. Their communal, intentional, and immersive approach to feeling and experiencing Palestine on bikes – both idealistic connections to the land and the increasingly dangerous encounters with the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlers – make the rides a method for political education and mobilization. I locate such cycling groups as new iterations of long-standing Palestinian traditions of mobility (sarha, or ‘wandering’) and mobilization (mujaawarah, or ‘neighboring’). In its slow attentiveness to Palestinian land, people, and heritage, cycling in the occupied West Bank is rebel movement. It refuses to comply with common narratives about what counts as activism (urgency; predetermined goals) and what cycling is for (speed; fitness). Instead, cycling is a way to understand shared Palestinian identity and heritage through the stories, knowledge, and connections that emerge through rides and to demand the right to roam in Palestine, as Palestinians. Cycling as rebel movement resists settler colonial architecture and practices that aim to separate Palestinians from their homes, land, roads, and each other. It counters settler colonial logics that see land through the lens of ownership and property by approaching land as a meaning-making process.

Noteworthy records of vascular plants from the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territories

This study reports noteworthy data records on 23 species belonging to 19 families of vascular plants from the West Bank (occupied state of Palestine). For 15 uncommon/rare species, the newly collected data meaningfully extend their range: Saccharum spontaneum, Cyrtomium falcatum, Eleocharis palustris, Crypsis factorovskyi, Coincya tournefortii, Medicago ciliaris, Abutilon theophrasti, Anabasis oropediorum, Allium rothii, Fallopia convolvulus, Glycyrrhiza echinata, Plantago major, Pseuderucaria clavata, Lupinus palaestinus, and Cistanche violacea. Eight other species are recorded for the first time in the West Bank: Tordylium cordatum, Bergia ammannioides, Sambucus ebulus, Araujia sericifera, Euphorbia graminea, Potamogeton nodosus, Cyrtomium falcatum, and Ulmus minor. Three of those eight species (Araujia sericifera, Euphorbia graminea, and Cyrtomium falcatum) are not local in the studied region (introduced species). The fact that three of the eight new records were introduced indicates that human disturbance is becoming dominant here as elsewhere in the world. Such data are useful as Palestine is currently implementing a new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and one of its actions is focused on the conservation of rare species of plants and combatting introduced/invasive species.

Diversity of freshwater leeches (Annelida: Hirudinida) in the West Bank, Palestine

This study provides an overview of the leech fauna of West Bank, Palestine based on newly collected material from the West Bank and data from the literature. A total of 17 species belonging to four families and six genera are known. Among these species, three represent new records for Palestine (West Bank): Helobdella europaea, Erpobdella cylindrica, and Erpobdella testacea. A brief biogeographic examination of some species is presented at both regional and continental levels.

Awareness and knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among the general public in West-Bank in Palestine

BackgroundSudden cardiac death (SCD) is a leading cause of cardiovascular-related deaths, often occurring outside hospitals in undiagnosed individuals. Our study aims to assess the baseline awareness and skills in performing CPR among the population in Palestine.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire to assess CPR knowledge among residents of the West Bank, Palestine. Convenience sampling targeted 300 participants via social media. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to examine associations.ResultsThe study surveyed 555 participants, revealing that 58.2% lacked CPR training. Awareness of cardiac arrest signs varied, with chest pain being the most recognized 19%. CPR training significantly improved participants’ recognition and response to cardiac emergencies.ConclusionAddressing the fear of legal consequences is crucial to encourage bystander assistance. We recommend increasing first aid awareness through scientific conferences, free training courses, media campaigns, and incentivized competitions.

The securitisation of the other through language planning: the Israeli case

ABSTRACT This study examines how language planning is deployed to address security concerns. Specifically, in a Foucauldian sense, it problematises the conditions, approaches and contexts of the language planning mechanisms Israel has used to communicate with Arab speakers in Gaza, the West Bank and neighbouring Arab nations, aiming to maintain security rather than to facilitate communication. The analysis focuses on two primary dimensions: conflict management and conflict prevention. Regarding conflict prevention, this study problematises the Mista’arvim (Arabic: المستعربون الإسرائيليون , English: those who become like Arabs, Hebrew: מסתערבים), which can either refer to specialised counter-terrorism units within the security apparatus or Israeli public figures and military personnel who actively engage on social media to defend Israel’s interests and promote its political agenda. Regarding conflict management, this study scrutinises Israel’s airborne leaflet tactics carried out by Malat (in Hebrew המרכז למבצעי תודעה ), which is a unit in the Israeli Defense Forces Operations Directorate that specialises in psychological warfare. In particular, the context in which Malat’s psychological tactics operate and the objectives it serves are scrutinised. This study concludes with a call for a policy shift towards desecuritisation in Israel’s language planning mechanisms used to communicate with Arab speakers.

Knowledge and perceptions of the roles of anesthesiologists as providers of healthcare services: toward better-educated patients

BackgroundIn modern healthcare systems, the scope of practice for anesthesiologists is expanding within and beyond the traditional perioperative care continuum. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perceptions of perioperative patients of the roles of anesthesiologists as providers of healthcare services in different Palestinian hospitals. The study also assessed associations between the patients' different demographic and clinical variables and their knowledge and perceptions about the roles of anesthesiologists.MethodThis study was conducted using a cross-sectional design and a questionnaire among perioperative patients admitted for elective surgeries in five major public and private hospitals in the Nablus, Tulkarm, Jenin, and Salfit governorates of the West Bank of Palestine. The data were collected between September 2023 and December 2023.ResultsOf the 500 patients invited, 411 patients completed the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 82.2%. The overall knowledge score of the patients about the roles of anesthesiologists was 59.4% (18.8%). The majority of the patients lacked awareness about the roles of anesthesiologists outside the operating room. There was a low positive correlation between the self-rated general health and overall knowledge score (Pearson's r = 0.17, p-value < 0.001). Similarly, knowledge scores were significantly higher for the patients who had a university education (p-value = < 0.001) and had a degree in one of the medical/health fields (p-value = < 0.001). On the other hand, the patients who lived in refugee camps (p-value = 0.048), had a blue-collar job (p-value = 0.005), and were scheduled to receive orthopedic surgeries (p-value = 0.035) had significantly lower knowledge scores.ConclusionThe findings of this study showed that perioperative patients in Palestine had inadequate knowledge about anesthesia and the roles of anesthesiologists, especially outside the operating room. Efforts should be made to improve the knowledge and perception of perioperative patients about anesthesia and the roles of anesthesiologists as providers of healthcare services. These efforts should be tailored to target uneducated patients, who have blue-collar jobs, live in refugee camps, and are scheduled to receive orthopedic surgeries.

Epidemiological pattern of injuries among road traffic crash victims: the first experience of a large tertiary care hospital in the West Bank of Palestine

BackgroundRoad traffic injuries are a global public health challenge. This study was conducted to describe the epidemiological patterns of road traffic injuries in a large tertiary care hospital in the West Bank of Palestine. In addition, associations between the different variables of the victims and the patterns of road traffic injuries were also assessed.MethodsThis study was conducted in a retrospective cohort observational design between January 2021 and July 2023 at a large tertiary care hospital in Nablus, Palestine. The data were collected from the electronic medical record system of the large tertiary care hospital using a data collection form.ResultsA total of 1,544 victims of traffic road injuries were included in this study. Lower limb (43.0%), neck (41.2), and upper limb (39.8%) injuries were the most common types of road traffic injuries sustained by the victims admitted to the large tertiary care hospital.The victims who were 30 years or older were more likely to sustain back injuries (aOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.20–2.45) pelvic injuries (aOR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.08–3.12), chest injuries (aOR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.06–2.38), and neck injuries (aOR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.68–3.82) compared to the victims who were younger than 30 years.The victims who did not use seatbelts were more likely to sustain abdominal injuries (aOR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.34–2.63) and head injuries (aOR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.06–2.10) compared to the victims who used seatbelts. The victims who did not have the airbag deployed were more likely (aOR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.31–2.63) to sustain neck injuries compared to the victims who had the airbag deployed.ConclusionThe epidemiological patterns of road traffic injuries in a large tertiary care hospital in Nablus, Palestine were described and the associations between the different variables of the victims and the patterns of road traffic injuries were assessed. The findings indicated a need to design measures to prevent/minimize these injuries. Future studies are still needed to determine the best measures to avoid/minimize the incidence of serious road traffic injuries.

The Price of Conflict: Devastation of Cultural Heritage in War and Political Strife, the West Bank as a Case Study

ABSTRACT The recent wave of armed conflict in and around the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, has resulted in an unprecedented scale of looting and destruction of archaeological sites in the West Bank, with the aim of extracting valuable artefacts for personal financial gain. The antiquities looters used both traditional hand tools and heavy machinery in their plundering activities. This armed conflict (still ongoing as of this writing), which has led to the destruction of numerous archaeological sites in the Palestinian Territories, motivates this research. The primary objective of this study is to identify the impact of the recent political crisis on Palestinian archaeological sites, specifically focusing on the case studies of Khirbet Qusātīn, Khirbet Sīmiyā, and Khirbet ‘Abda, all located in Hebron governorate. The methodology employs a multidisciplinary approach, including field surveys, photography using cameras and drones, literature review, and analysis of available satellite imagery.