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Is it worse to be a Palestinian in Jerusalem or Gaza? The author attempts to discover which Palestinians have it worse under Israeli rule.  Israel has imposed extreme methods of isolation and insulation on Gaza.  Those who live there are cut off from water supplies and from any cultural, social, or family ties they have with their people. Then on the other hand, you have those Palestinians who are living in East Jerusalem.  The cynicism of the decision makers is turning the population there into a bunch of slum dwellers and then those same decision makers are priding themselves on the fact that they give those people national insurance payments.  In the neighborhood of Isawiyah, there are large piles of concrete and an immense collection of garbage.  Because of construction prohibitions, those who live there steal pieces of concrete from the roads so that it can be used on buildings.

There are some statistics that prove to be rather disturbing.  In Palestinian Jerusalem, about 65 percent of the Palestinian residents live below the poverty line compared to that of 30 percent of the Jewish population.  74 percent of Palestinian children in Jerusalem live below the poverty line whereas only 45 percent of the city's Jewish children do. Few classrooms exist in the area and about 50 percent Palestinian school children drop out.  24,500 dunams (6,000~ acres), were appropriated from Arab owners while 50,000 housing units were built on the same land for the Jewish population.  

The authorities prevent any Palestinians from building or developing land and instead allocate vacant lots to the Jews.  This tends to bring a rise in confrontations so the Housing and Construction Ministry provides hundreds of armed guards for the Jews at the public's expense.  Much of the time when Palestinians complain to the police, they are looked at as the suspects.  When Jews really are the suspects of causing bodily harm, the case ends up being closed in a swift matter.  For the Palestinians, there is no sense of security.  They feel that the authorities are aggressive, abusive, and belligerent.  They live in a world of constant violence even though the ministry denies that the guards harass them.  The ministry also said the guards are even praised for their professionalism because they show restraint and forbearance.  Roni Leibowitz, legal adviser to the police, believes that the testimonies of suspects are misleading because of their "erroneous portrayal of the way the situation developed".  Either way, conflict will always be unavoidable.

Haaretz, one of the largest Israeli news resources, is the world's leading English language website for real time news of Israel and the Middle East.  Also, since it is a source that was provided by the professor, I find its reliability even more credible.  What makes this article even more dependable  is the fact that the author got much of their sources by firsthand experience.  Amira Hass, who has held her post at Haaretz for 17 years, physically traveled to these hostile environments to get her information directly from the people living their instead of relying on false or undependable sources.  Her view on the subject is obvious throughout the article.  She honestly feels that the Palestinians of Gaza and Jerusalem both get treated inhumanly.  It seemed that she originally thought that Gaza was a worse place to live, but after her travels it seemed that was not the case.  Those Palestinians who live in Jerusalem do have it worse and she has seen it with her own two eyes.