Population Dilemmas in the Middle East - Hardcover

Gilbar, Gad G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0714647063 ISBN 13: 9780714647067

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

This study provides a general outline of Palestinian population growth between 1948 and 1987 and then focuses on the town of Nablus for a detailed analysis of the main aspects of Palestinian migration and high rates of natural increase. The author shows how the recession that struck the Arab oil economies in the early 1980s, by slowing down the migratory movement, shut off the valve that had afforded the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza relief from economic pressures.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This study first offers a general outline of Palestinian population growth between 1948 and 1987, and then focuses on the town of Nablus in the early 1950s for a detailed analysis of the economic forces that instigated Palestinian migration to Jordan and the Gulf. The author shows how the recession that struck the Arab oil economies in the early 1980s, by slowing down the migratory movement, shut off the valve that had afforded the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza relief from economic pressures. When during those same years the Israeli government instigated a policy of reducing investments in these territories, the Palestinians found themselves in a no-win situation, with their economic plight forming one of the main factors for the eruption of the Intifada in December 1987. Finally, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in July 1990, most of the 300,000 or so Palestinians who had been working there left (or were forced to leave) and made their way to Jordan. The author analyses how Jordan, in coping with the resulting demographic and economic pressures, adopted an antinatalist policy despite powerful political and social forces working against such a programme.

About the Author:

Gad G. Gilbar is Professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Haifa, and Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0714647063
• ISBN 13: 9780714647067
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 162