Location And Land Use

Location

Ramallah District is located in the middle part of the West Bank. For technical reasons, the definition of the boundaries of the Ramallah District used by ARIJ in this profile, as seen in Figure 1.1, is a combination of the pre-1967 Jordanian administrative classification and the current Israeli designation of the boundaries. After the Israeli occupation in 1967, the Israeli government redefined the boundaries of Jerusalem and included 68.17 hectares from the Ramallah District as well as 1632.7 hectares from Bethlehem District.

Figure 1.1

Accordingly, the Ramallah District, covered by this profile, extends from Jerusalem District in the south to Nablus District in the north and from Jericho District in the east to the 1948 cease-fire line between Israel and Jordan from the west (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2

Land use

Land designations in the West Bank are defined by the recent "Oslo II" interim agreement and the functional land uses required for the Palestinian community, and the Israeli occupation control which continues today. Land availability determines the Palestinians potential to sustainably develop the community.

The "Oslo II" interim agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis, has divided the West Bank land into three areas, Area A, Area B, and Area C which are differentiated by a different level of control by the Palestinians. According to these divisions, the populated Palestinian cities representing 3% of the total area of the West Bank, is completely within the control of the Palestinians (Area A). Area B which includes all the Palestinian villages and small towns cover 27% of the total area of the West Bank. Palestinians now have full control over civil society except that Israel continues to have overriding responsibility for security. Area C, which includes some Palestinian built up areas as well as Israeli settlements and military outposts, covers the remaining land. Palestinians have responsibility for civil life in this area such as economics, health and education, however Israel retains control of security and power related to territory. During the further redeployment phases, powers and responsibilities in Area C will be gradually transferred to the Palestinians, to be completed 18 months from the inauguration of the Palestinian Council.

At this time, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has not been able to assume complete sovereignty on Palestinian land and the division of areas into A, B, and C hinders the potential of dealing with the Palestinian areas as a geographic integrity as an essential ingredient for sound environmental management. The final fate of Area C will be negotiated in the final status negotiation that began officially on May, 1996.

Ramallah District measures approximately 84,362.1 hectares. This area is divided by the "Oslo II" interim agreement as follows:

"Area A", which includes the Ramallah and Al-Bireh cities in addition to Al-Ama'ri and Qaddura refugee camps, and covers 1,957.1 hectares (2.3%) of the district's land (Figure 1.3). Since January, 1996, the Israeli army has pulled out fully, and all responsibilities for internal security and public order are held by Palestinians.

Figure 1.3 Redeployment map

"Area B" is the populated villages, camps and the built-up area of the hamlets as shown in Figure 1.3. It accounts for approximately 22,429.3 hectares (26.6% of the total area of Ramallah District).

"Area C", which covers 71.1% of the district's land, includes areas of Israeli settlements, closed military areas, and military bases.

Functionally, there are eight major land use classes within the Ramallah District boundaries, serving both the Israelis and Palestinians. These are Palestinian built­up areas, Israeli settlements, closed military areas and bases, nature reserves, forests, cultivated areas, and industrial areas (Figure 1.4). The Ramallah District occupies approximately 14.5% of the West Bank and 13.6% of Palestine (Gaza Strip and West Bank). Currently, only 4.35% of the Ramallah District is inhabited by Palestinian built up areas, while approximately 20.3% is occupied by either Israeli settlements, nature reserves or closed military areas.

Figure 1.4 land use map

Palestinian Built-up Areas

There are 76 Palestinian built­up areas in the district. Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Silwad, Bani Zeid, Bir Zeit, Deir Dibwan and Bitunia are the only communities designated as municipalities. Other built-up areas are governed either by village councils or village mukhtars. In addition, there are four refugee camps, Al-Ama'ri, Qaddura, Al-Jalazone, and Deir A'mmar. Due to the restrictions imposed by Israelis on giving building permits for the Palestinians, the Palestinian built-up areas are very limited and comprise only 4.35% of the Ramallah District area. On average, the population density is reaching to more than 730 person/km². Figure 1.5 shows the distribution and names of the various built up areas in the district. These areas are mainly located on more than one soil association such as brown rendzinas and pale rendzinas soils, and terra rossa, brown rendzinas and pale rendzinas soils. These soil types constitute the most suitable land for agricultural purposes in the district.

Israeli Settlements

There are 27 Israeli settlements in the Ramallah District, occupying approximately 1,438.5 hectares of the district's land (1.63% of the total district area). Most of these settlements are located near the cease-fire line, to the west of the district. In 1992, it is estimated that at least 18,000 settlers are living in these settlements. Giva't Ze'ev and Kokhav Ya'aqov settlements are located at the border between Ramallah and Jerusalem Districts. During the past two years, there was a gradual and progressive expansion in the Israeli settlements.

Table 1.1 shows the name, type, establishment date and number of families for the settlements in Ramallah District and Figure 1.5 shows the distribution of these settlements.

Figure 1.5

Closed Military Areas and Bases

The Israeli army occupies approximately 10,725 hectares (12.7% of the total area) of the Ramallah District, claiming that these areas are important both as security zones and for military training purposes. Furthermore, there are eight military bases, with a total area of about 235 hectares (0.28% of the total area). The closed military areas cover almost the entire eastern border while the military bases are distributed throughout the district. The closed military areas and bases are located on the following soil associations:

1. Alluvial arid brown soil, on which irrigated crops can be grown;
2. Brown lithosols and loessial arid brown soils, in which annual fieldcrops, mainly wheat and barley can be grown;
3. Terra rossa, brown rendzinas and pale rendzinas, which are the most suitable soils for agricultural purposes;
4. Brown rendzinas and pale rendzinas, which are also suitable for agricultural purposes.

Nature Reserves

The Israeli Authorities are used to declare a piece of land as a nature reserve in the West Bank in order to prevent the Palestinians from using this land for construction or agriculture. Experience has shown that land confiscated for being nature reserves became after a while an Israeli settlement. There is a serious doubt about the true environmental significance of the currently declared nature reserves. Currently, Israel had declared 15 nature reserves in Ramallah District with a total area of almost 4,724 hectares ( 5.6% of Ramallah District area), most of which are located within the Israeli-declared closed military areas.

Forests

There are 6 forested areas in the district with a total area of about 308 hectares ( 0.36% of the total area ). Most of these forests are located on fertile soil types (terra rossas, brown rendzinas and pale rendzinas) and in areas of favorable climatic conditions for agriculture.

Cultivated Areas

During the 1993/94 growing season, cultivated areas in the Ramallah District covered approximately 23,831 hectares (28.2% of the total area) (Ramallah Agricultural department, 1994). Rainfed agriculture is dominant in the district, occupying approximately 23,737.7 hectares (99.6 % of the cultivated areas) while the rest is irrigated. The agricultural areas are divided into the following:

1. Fruit trees, located mainly in the central mountains, occupying an area of approximately 18,959.6 hectares ( 79.7% of the total cultivated areas). Olive trees are the dominant, occupying 15,186.64 of the area of fruit trees. Fig trees are the next most common, covering an area of 1,170.7 hectares. Grape trees, stone fruits and pome trees are also found in the district, they are grown on 811, 1,705 and 17.5 hectares respectively.

   Irrigated orchards of fruit trees are found on small amounts of land and in few villages. Lemon trees cover the largest area (12 hectares), followed by other varieties such as pomegranate, orange, and guava.

    

2. Field crops and forages, covering an area of 4,059.7 hectares (17% of the total cultivated area) in the 1993/94 growing season. Approximately 60% of the field crops and forages are grown in the eastern region of the district and the remaining 40% are distributed throughout the central and western regions.

    

3. Vegetables are located in the central and western regions of the district and covering an area of 791.7 hectares for the rainfed and irrigated vegetables in the 1993/94 growing season. Tomatoes are the most common followed by squash and snake cucumber.

Roads

Road network in the Ramallah district is in poor condition where it is not expanded or maintained for many years. There are 220.3 km of main roads and 250.1 km of secondary roads. These lengths include only the external roads that connect the cities with nearby villages until 1993. Another road system is newly constructed by Israel within the West Bank area. These by-pass roads are designed to link Israeli settlements within the West Bank with each other and with Israel. These roads will be used only by Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. The Israeli forces is confiscating thousands of hectares of Palestinian land for this purpose. The by-pass roads are designed in a way that will hinder the future expansion of the Palestinian built-up areas and dividing Ramallah District into cantons (Figure 1.5). The existing by-pass roads passing through Ramallah District have a total length of 64.7 km and the proposed by-pass roads are planned to include another 49.1 km (ARIJ, GIS unit).

Industrial Areas

There are two industrial areas in Ramallah District, one is located to the south of Ramallah city and the other to the east of Al-Bireh. Together they cover approximately 134.2 hectares.