The West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Geography of Occupation and Disengagement

by Efrat; Elisha

• ISBN13: 9780415385442
• ISBN10: 041538544X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Written in a clear and easy-to-follow style this revealing text examines the contemporary political geography of the West Bank and Gaza strip. Descriptive in nature, it documents the changes and developments since 1967 right up to the disengagement from Gaza. The book is supplemented by numerous maps and covers issues including: *Demography *Jewish settlements *Water and natural resources *Transport infrastructure *Planning *Partition plans for Jerusalem *Settlement policy *The Separation Fence. One of the first books to tackle this contentious subject from a geographical rather than a political or historical perspective, this essential text will be of huge interest to both undergraduate and graduate students studying the Israel-Palestine question.

Author Biography

Elisha Efrat is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Tel Aviv University

Table of Contents

Plates	vii
Figures	ix
Tables	xi
Introduction	1	(3)
1 The scope of geography and occupation	4	(5)
2 The West Bank: A Jewish—Arab struggle for sovereignty	9	(115)
Background	9	(3)
Judea and Samaria under Jordanian rule	12	(3)
The geographical patterns of Arab settlements and towns	15	(8)
First steps in the physical planning of the West Bank	23	(2)
The "Anon" plan	25	(2)
Successive expansion plans	27	(2)
The Gush Emunim activities	29	(4)
Types of Jewish settlements in the West Bank	33	(7)
The outposts	40	(9)
The future of the "Green Line"	49	(3)
The "Axis of the Hills" plan	52	(1)
Requiem for the Jewish settlements	53	(6)
The struggle for land	59	(6)
Disputed waters	65	(5)
The Jewish—Palestinian demography	70	(10)
Apartheid roads	80	(7)
Peace patterns in an insurgency region	87	(3)
The planning system	90	(3)
The map of the West Bank and the implications of the settlement policy	93	(8)
Patterns toward peace	101	(6)
The separation fence	107	(11)
The High Court ruling regarding the separation fence	118	(6)
3 Jerusalem – reunited but divided	124	(42)
Background	124	(3)
Planning perspectives of the British	127	(5)
Planning prospects of the Israelis in West Jerusalem since 1967	132	(7)
Planning perspectives and problems of the reunited city	139	(8)
The Jewish Arab struggle in the city and in its environs	147	(7)
Partition plans for the holy city	154	(12)
4 The Gaza Strip — from Jewish bloc-settlement to disengagement	166	(30)
Background	166	(2)
Distribution of settlements and population in 1947	168	(2)
Gaza – the main urban center	170	(2)
The Gaza Strip between 1948 and 1967	172	(2)
The Gaza Strip after 1967	174	(2)
The Qatif bloc	176	(4)
The evacuation of the Yamit region as a precedent	180	(3)
Disengagement from the Gaza Strip	183	(8)
Execution of the disengagement	191	(5)
5 The Palestinian State	196	(6)
6 Occupation and delusions	202	(5)
Glossary	207	(2)
Select bibliography	209	(4)
Index	213