ABSTRACT: The status of telephone networks in Palestine is currently undergoing significant changes in the wake of the Palestinian - Israeli Peace Agreement. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been handed over the telephone networks in the PA areas. The areas that the Palestinian Authority has received is fragmented geographically and under partial Palestinian control. At the same time, the telephone networks that were once an integrated part of the Israeli telephone network are still under Israeli control for long distance and international connectivity. Separating the telephone networks is not a trivial task, and one that faces numerous obstacles and complications.

The Territory

The outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace agreement has created a new political/geographical entity dividing the West Bank and Gaza strips into three zones: Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C:

• At present Zone A comprises areas that have been already handed over to the Palestinian Authority. They constitute 6% of the W.B.
• Zone B includes areas that are supposed to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority in the second stage of the implementation of the peace accord*. This area constitutes 23% of the West Bank.
• Zone C constituting 71% of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.

The Telephone Situation in Palestinian Cities

The Israeli occupation has done very little in the development of the telecommunications in Palestinian cities. The infrastructure that was handed over to the Palestinian Authority is in a poor state. This is despite the fact that Palestinians under Israeli occupation were paying income, VAT and other taxes to the Israeli government. The percentage of telephone lines per capita for Palestinian users is extremely low, 2.7% in Gaza and 4.5% in the West Bank as opposed to approximately 30% in Israel.

Obtaining telephones in Palestine has been extremely difficult historically. Applicants would wait for over 10 years before a telephone line became available for their household or office. Presently there is a waiting list of over 44,000 applications in Gaza and 50,000 in the West Bank. This is not taking into account people who do not apply knowing that there is almost no hope in obtaining a telephone line.

The Existing Infrastructure

Israel has built the telephone networks and infrastructure outside the West Bank and Gaza. As illustrated in figure 4. all major exchanges were connected in areas outside the W.B. and Gaza, and connections to the international telecommunication systems were similarly located.

Above: The 15 nodes at the bottom of the image are the local telephone exchanges in (from left to right) the northern cities of the West Bank (Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus, Qalqilia), the central and southern region of the West Bank (Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron and Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip (Old Gaza, New Gaza, Deir El-Baleh, Khan Younis, Rafah and Jiblia). The next level up is the main exchanges in Israel (Afula, Netania, Jerusalem and Ashkelon). Finally, the top level shows the main connection to the international telecommunications backbone (Haifa, Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva). Thus, the trunk and international switching and transmissions systems are part of the Israeli network. The transmission network consists of microwave links and limited fiber optic cable, ownership of which is disputed.

A fiber optic cable that was erected recently to act as a communications backbone for the Gaza Strip for example, ran outside Gaza bordering the Strip. A connection between Jabalia and the Gaza city for example, has to go outside the strip and then back into New Gaza. Therefore inter-city, or long distance, and international connections are under Israeli control, both physically and financially.

Some links exist directly between Palestinian cities, and the majority of these links use wireless microwave technology. The topography of the West Bank is hilly. To establish line of site between cities requires the positioning of the microwave towers on high hill tops. Unfortunately almost all high hill tops are occupied by Israeli settlements. A microwave link between Ramallah and Nablus for example must run from Ramallah to a settlement, then to another settlement on Mt. Jerzeem in Nablus, then through a cable to the Nablus switch.

To complicate things further, the local infrastructure within Palestinian cities was not developed or maintained and left in a grave state at the time it was handed over to Palestinian control. This has left the Palestine Telecommunication authorities with the following situation:

All three zones: A, B and C are part of the Palestinian telephone access areas, and it is the responsibility of the Palestinian telecommunications authorities to develop the telecommunication infrastructure of these areas. Being under Israeli control, however, requires that any development to be made in zones B and C will have to acquire Israeli authorization, and this is usually a complicated and frustrating operation.

Taking the status of leased lines as an example:

• During and prior to the Oslo Accords - leased lines to Palestinian institutions were outrightly denied by the Israeli military government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip solely on political grounds.
• After the Oslo Accords - a new set of complications and rules appeared that required a leased line application to go through the following channels: a subscriber applies for a leased line, the application goes to the Palestinian Ministry of Communication, then to a "Palestinian-Israeli Joint Technical Committee", then to the military administration in the Zone C area, then to the Israel Ministry of Communications.
• To Date - not a single leased line has been granted to a Palestinian living in the West Bank or Gaza after the Peace Ac cords.

Building an Independent Palestinian Backbone

The following are options that can be used to build an independent Palestinian telecommunications backbone. These options face obstacles and complications:

• Fiber-Optic backbone - A fiber optic backbone would be the ideal solution for inter city connectivity. However, as indicated in geographic map above, areas within the West Bank that are under Palestinian Authority rule are not contiguous. Linking cities together will require the backbone to pass through Zone C. Such a setup will require permission, negotiations and is likely to be within Israeli control. Building the backbone is also very expensive and time consuming. Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank opens up even more complications and restrictions.
• Wireless Backbone - using microwave connections for a wireless backbone offers an inexpensive and quick solution, one that can be used as a backup for a future fiber optic backbone. This solution however faces other complications:
  • Microwave connections require a line of site. In the West Bank, this requires them to go through high hill tops, most of which are occupied by Israeli settlements.
  • Microwave connections require specific frequencies for operations. These frequencies are under Israeli control, and would require negotiations and permission to use.
  
• Satellites - Satellites may be used to connect major Palestinian cities. The satellite solution is not economically feasible as the running cost is too high. It may be the only solution in certain situations. Satellite frequencies are also under Israeli control.

Data Communications and Internet

Even though all Palestinian long distance communications are under Israeli control and are integrated through the Israeli telephone networks, Israel continues to refuse leased line connections for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strictly on political grounds. This situation is holding back networking for Palestinians on a national, regional and global levels. While at least 40,000 Israelis connected to the same network enjoy full Internet services mostly through institutions connected by leased lines, only a small fraction of Palestinians have Internet access through dial-up connections to Israeli service providers or to Palestinian service providers who are connected to Israeli service providers.

It will be a major challenge for the Palestine Telecommunications Company to develop an independent data network with Internet access to the PA areas.

The Palestine Telephone Company

Telephone services in Palestine will be conducted by the Palestine Telephone Company (PalTel), a private company. At present, the Palestinian Ministry of Communications is in the process of transferring the communications of the Palestinian Authority (PA) areas to PalTel. Within the next few months, PalTel will take over all telephone services in PA areas.

Note: The Gaza switches and the Nablus switches have been recently replaced by TMX-100 switches, and the Nablus TMX-10 switch has been move to Beer Nabala.

The table reveals the following information:

• The telephone exchanges are located in the major Palestinian cities.
• Most exchanges are modern digital switches. This means that telephones using these exchanges are generally clean for data transmission. However, as mentioned earlier, the penetration level of telephones is very low.
• Another problem being faced at present is the lack of expertise in running and operating these exchanges. This is a temporary problem that is being dealt with through training and expatriate expert assistance.
• Another potentially problematic area is the installed wiring and cabling. Some of these networks are deteriorated and may cause signal distortion.
• ‏Most switches' capacity in Gaza and the West Bank has not been reached. It may be possible to almost double the number of users on the network without expanding the switches. The major problem remains to be the infrastructure and cabling, which requires major expansion and development.

The short term objectives of PalTel, that are of importance to networking are:

• Expand the existing fixed line network. This requires plant development and intra-city cabling and development.
• The development of a data network. This would be one of the most important developments for networking in Palestine. Most likely, PalTel will obtain a large link (T1 or E1) to the Internet backbone, and sell chunks of it to local users. They will also be able to provide Palestinian institutions leased line facilities to exchange data within Palestine.
• Designing a wireless telephone network. During the past two years, wireless technology has evolved significantly. It is now possible to build a wireless metropolitan telephone network, using fixed wireless telephones that can transmit up to 2 MBPS of data. Such a network is easy to install, and the cost per installation is within $500 per house hold. For developing countries, with a poor wiring infrastructure, such technology offers immediate solutions.

The above plans of PalTel, if applied, will boost the development of networking in Palestine significantly. It will offer solutions to WAN connectivity, Internet access, quality of telephone lines, and availability of telephones. However, their task is expected to face continued obstacles and complications and will be heavily dependent on the political mood in the region.

Conclusion

While Palestinians are trying to build the infrastructure for a future Palestinian State, they are faced with obstacles in fundamental areas such as telecommunications.

The establishment of a data network in Palestine is an extremely pressing issue. Access to national and global information, and information exchange are key development al elements. Under normal circumstances, a data network utilizes the installed telecommunications infrastructure in a country. In our case, this seems to be difficult.

At the moment, all sectors seeking data networking are attempting to find working solutions. The academic sector has been trying to establish a research data network for the past few years with little success beyond achieving electronic mail connectivity. The Palestinian Authority has been trying to setup a limited satellite network for governmental information exchange, and that is moving at an extremely slow pace. PalTel is expected to be looking into some data networking solutions once they take over the telecommunications systems. All above sectors are facing the same problems and complications, yet they are all trying persistently to achieve work-around solutions for a difficult, yet extremely important situation.

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