Over the past few years, urban centers have emphasized their critical sociopolitical relevance. From Madrid to New Delhi, from Manama to Cairo, cities have proven to be seminal flashpoints of battles of iconic status. But with cities in the Arab world having witnessed particularly explosive signs of discontent, many have wondered if the Gaza Strip would ever jump on this ‘bandwagon’. Voices of opposition have largely been silent since the Hamas’ violent take over in 2007, but the Strip’s distraught urban landscape is beginning to indicate that winds of change may be nigh.
Urban Gaza: An Un-Livable Place?
Walking around Gaza City, it may seem like a far cry from the harrowed wartime images of this Palestinian territory. But the scenic sea face road, countless posh restaurants bustling with business, and exquisite hotels frequented by foreign journalists all seemingly mask a far more gloomy reality.
Often described as an open-air prison, the Gaza Strip is 41 miles long and between 6 to 7 miles wide. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) it has a population of approximately 1.64 million, of which 74.3 percent are urbanized. The Gaza Strip is also one of the most densely populated regions in the world with 4,505 people per square kilometer. The poverty rate in the Strip is estimated to be close to 40 percent.
While these statistics already present a grim picture, the Palestinian Territories in general, and the Gaza Strip in particular, are sitting on what Sara Roy has termed as a history of ‘de-development’. When an economic ‘nose-dive’ began in 1967, a steady depreciation of per capita income was coupled with a steep increase in child labor rates. While the establishment of the Palestinian Authority was initially ‘sold’ to the Palestinian populace as the precursor to the much-awaited Palestinian state, it only provided institutional legitimacy for the corrupt and protectionist Fatah-led regime. As if this was not enough, the Gazan state of affairs has been further worsened since Hamas’ 2006 victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. With Fatah-affiliated officials refusing to be part of Hamas-led governance institutions, an inexperienced Islamic Resistance was compelled to replace the entire public sector. The result was immensely weak government institutions, often unable to meet Gaza’s socioeconomic needs. This, in addition to its 2007 take over of Gaza and expulsion of Fatah from the Strip, meant border closures with Israel and Egypt and a complete official political and economic isolation of this Palestinian territory from relevant Western actors.
Fragmentation
What has then ensued is the further fragmentation of what Fawaz Turki once termed the perpetually “splintered social being” of Palestinians. Gazans are worse off than they were in the 1990s—a recent UN report titled Gaza in 2020: A Liveable Place? estimated that the population of the Strip would rise to 2.1 million by 2020. With the area’s infrastructure woefully unprepared for this population boom, the report noted: “By 2020, electricity provision will need to double to meet demand, damage to the coastal aquifer will be irreversible without immediate remedial action, and hundreds of new schools and expanded health services will be needed for an overwhelmingly young population. Tens of thousands of housing units are needed today.”
We do not need to wait until 2020 to witness Gaza’s crumbling urban landscape. Walk through the neighborhoods of Khan Yunis or Shejaiyya, and an urban nightmare is on display with congested streets, little in lieu of adequate urban sanitation, and appallingly high levels housing density. As the residents in these neighborhoods are the most disenfranchised of all Palestinians, it may be more than a coincidence that Khan Yunis has the highest rate of unemployment (36.4 percent) and Shejaiyya is widely believed to be an Islamic Jihad stronghold. That said, away from the numerous dilapidated and congested neighborhoods and refugee camps, even Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline finds itself marred. According to EWASH, 50 to 80 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage flows into the Mediterranean each day, and only 5 to 10 percent of Gaza’s aquifers provide drinking water.
The result then is an impending urban crisis. As Gaza Strip urban centers fail to provide often basic adequate provisions for a ‘good living’, it further worsens the political, social, and economic crisis instigated by the blockade. The youth population, estimated to be 43.7 percent of Gazans, are either yearning to leave or begrudgingly taking stake in the fragmented political landscape—giving credence to radical groups such as Islam Jihad that are vehemently against any form of negotiations with Israel.
Most residents of the Strip find themselves staring at a seemingly infinite abyss. They are seemingly both destined and doomed to inhabit an eventually fruitless life in Gaza. Gazans have become an immensely frustrated people disillusioned by those they have chosen to be ruled by. While it is unlikely that Hamas will give up power any time soon, an impending urban crisis in the Strip could mean doom for the Islamic Resistance. There are rumblings of a Gaza-based Tamarod (Rebellion) movement, hoping to mirror the movement’s success in ousting the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While success of the Gaza-chapter may be some ways off, the movement may gain traction as Gaza’s urban landscape faces a tragic yet inevitable collapse.
Somdeep Sen is a PhD Fellow for the department of political science at the University of Copenhagen and a blogger for The Huffington Post.
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The Gaza ‘Time Bomb’: An Impending Urban Crisis
November 25, 2013
Over the past few years, urban centers have emphasized their critical sociopolitical relevance. From Madrid to New Delhi, from Manama to Cairo, cities have proven to be seminal flashpoints of battles of iconic status. But with cities in the Arab world having witnessed particularly explosive signs of discontent, many have wondered if the Gaza Strip would ever jump on this ‘bandwagon’. Voices of opposition have largely been silent since the Hamas’ violent take over in 2007, but the Strip’s distraught urban landscape is beginning to indicate that winds of change may be nigh.
Urban Gaza: An Un-Livable Place?
Walking around Gaza City, it may seem like a far cry from the harrowed wartime images of this Palestinian territory. But the scenic sea face road, countless posh restaurants bustling with business, and exquisite hotels frequented by foreign journalists all seemingly mask a far more gloomy reality.
Often described as an open-air prison, the Gaza Strip is 41 miles long and between 6 to 7 miles wide. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) it has a population of approximately 1.64 million, of which 74.3 percent are urbanized. The Gaza Strip is also one of the most densely populated regions in the world with 4,505 people per square kilometer. The poverty rate in the Strip is estimated to be close to 40 percent.
While these statistics already present a grim picture, the Palestinian Territories in general, and the Gaza Strip in particular, are sitting on what Sara Roy has termed as a history of ‘de-development’. When an economic ‘nose-dive’ began in 1967, a steady depreciation of per capita income was coupled with a steep increase in child labor rates. While the establishment of the Palestinian Authority was initially ‘sold’ to the Palestinian populace as the precursor to the much-awaited Palestinian state, it only provided institutional legitimacy for the corrupt and protectionist Fatah-led regime. As if this was not enough, the Gazan state of affairs has been further worsened since Hamas’ 2006 victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. With Fatah-affiliated officials refusing to be part of Hamas-led governance institutions, an inexperienced Islamic Resistance was compelled to replace the entire public sector. The result was immensely weak government institutions, often unable to meet Gaza’s socioeconomic needs. This, in addition to its 2007 take over of Gaza and expulsion of Fatah from the Strip, meant border closures with Israel and Egypt and a complete official political and economic isolation of this Palestinian territory from relevant Western actors.
Fragmentation
What has then ensued is the further fragmentation of what Fawaz Turki once termed the perpetually “splintered social being” of Palestinians. Gazans are worse off than they were in the 1990s—a recent UN report titled Gaza in 2020: A Liveable Place? estimated that the population of the Strip would rise to 2.1 million by 2020. With the area’s infrastructure woefully unprepared for this population boom, the report noted: “By 2020, electricity provision will need to double to meet demand, damage to the coastal aquifer will be irreversible without immediate remedial action, and hundreds of new schools and expanded health services will be needed for an overwhelmingly young population. Tens of thousands of housing units are needed today.”
We do not need to wait until 2020 to witness Gaza’s crumbling urban landscape. Walk through the neighborhoods of Khan Yunis or Shejaiyya, and an urban nightmare is on display with congested streets, little in lieu of adequate urban sanitation, and appallingly high levels housing density. As the residents in these neighborhoods are the most disenfranchised of all Palestinians, it may be more than a coincidence that Khan Yunis has the highest rate of unemployment (36.4 percent) and Shejaiyya is widely believed to be an Islamic Jihad stronghold. That said, away from the numerous dilapidated and congested neighborhoods and refugee camps, even Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline finds itself marred. According to EWASH, 50 to 80 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage flows into the Mediterranean each day, and only 5 to 10 percent of Gaza’s aquifers provide drinking water.
The result then is an impending urban crisis. As Gaza Strip urban centers fail to provide often basic adequate provisions for a ‘good living’, it further worsens the political, social, and economic crisis instigated by the blockade. The youth population, estimated to be 43.7 percent of Gazans, are either yearning to leave or begrudgingly taking stake in the fragmented political landscape—giving credence to radical groups such as Islam Jihad that are vehemently against any form of negotiations with Israel.
Most residents of the Strip find themselves staring at a seemingly infinite abyss. They are seemingly both destined and doomed to inhabit an eventually fruitless life in Gaza. Gazans have become an immensely frustrated people disillusioned by those they have chosen to be ruled by. While it is unlikely that Hamas will give up power any time soon, an impending urban crisis in the Strip could mean doom for the Islamic Resistance. There are rumblings of a Gaza-based Tamarod (Rebellion) movement, hoping to mirror the movement’s success in ousting the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While success of the Gaza-chapter may be some ways off, the movement may gain traction as Gaza’s urban landscape faces a tragic yet inevitable collapse.
Somdeep Sen is a PhD Fellow for the department of political science at the University of Copenhagen and a blogger for The Huffington Post.
