The Commodification of Lands and Housing within Palestinian Society in Israel: The Evolution of a New Stratification Mechanism and the Expansion of Spatial Mobility?

This project explores a recently emerging process of commodification of land and housing in Palestinian localities in Israel and the socioeconomic and demographic consequences of this process for the Palestinian community. While in a narrow sense commodification involves the transformation of private land into a commodity and the development of a housing market in Palestinian localities, in a broader sense it entails a transition from the set of social, economic, and spatial relations that emerged due to the dominance of a housing regime based on extant land ownership and characterized by self-building on private land—and thus highly independent from the state and the housing market—to the new set of relations that will emerge in the context of the incipient market-based regime. The project examines both the forces propelling the commodification of land and housing and the consequences of this transition. The project adopts a multi-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods.

I argue that commodification constitutes a new mechanism of social stratification that impacts socioeconomic inequality within Palestinian communities. A significant decline in the family’s ability to transfer land to the younger generation pushes younger family members to rely more heavily on the mortgage market, and thus home ownership becomes more stratified. In addition, the transition to a housing market allows young Palestinians more flexibility in residential location; they will have to choose whether to live within or outside the community based on multiple factors including job opportunities, distance to their workplace, and proximity to parents. Lastly, the commodification of housing will likely modify social relations—specifically gender relations and intergenerational solidarity, which were strongly influenced by the previous housing regime.