RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 1, 2021 (WAFA) – A new survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that offenses against households were at 5.4% of the Palestinian households in Palestine: 4.1% in the West Bank and 7.6% in the Gaza Strip. This percentage decreased by 23% in comparison with 2016, said the PCBS in a press release on the results of the victimization survey.
The offenses cited in the survey include theft (excluding motor vehicles) at 2.8%, the theft of a motor vehicle or parts of it at 2.4%, damage to property at 0.4%, and assault at 0.6% of the households; while 0.7% of households were subjected to harassment or assault by Israeli soldiers or settlers.
The survey also showed that 2.0% of the households said that one of its members was exposed to cyber threats at least once (1.4% in the West Bank and 3.0% in the Gaza Strip).
It said that 1.1% of individuals in Palestine were exposed to a criminal offense: 0.9% in the West Bank and 1.4% in the Gaza Strip.
Criminal offenses against individuals were: 57.3% for theft; 3.6% for attempt of robbery/theft; 19.6% for assaults/threat; 4.8% for damages to property; and 11.8% of individuals who were harassed or assaulted by Israeli soldiers or settlers (23.4% in the West Bank and 0.7% in the Gaza Strip).
Most criminal offenses, or 34.8%, took place inside the home of the household members (27.8% in the West Bank and 41.6% in the Gaza Strip). Whereas 34.1% were near the house (33.6% in the West Bank and 34.6% in Gaza Strip); 11.8% outside the locality (19.9% in the West Bank and 4.0% in the Gaza Strip).
On crime reporting, 52.2% of victims of criminal offenses in Palestine reported the crimes they were exposed to (46.4% in the West Bank and 56.2% in the Gaza Strip) compared to 43.0% in 2016. Moreover, 10.3% of reported criminal offenses in Palestine were referred to court. (20.2% in the West Bank and 4.5% in the Gaza Strip).
However, and as for the reasons for not reporting criminal offenses by victims, 38.2% of victims of such acts explained it was nothing serious. While 23.3% of them preferred not to involve the police in the incident, and 20.0% of victims preferred to solve the issue or going to the tribal judiciary personally.
The percentage of the criminal offenses against individuals causing physical harm was 5.4%; (5.7% in the West Bank and 5.1% in Gaza Strip).
The results showed that 66.6% of the criminal offenses against individuals in Palestine in which tangible losses were reported (56.3% in the West Bank and 76.4% in the Gaza Strip), while 1.7% of the individuals reported physical and tangible losses. Moreover, 26.4% of the total individuals exposed to criminal offenses reported that there were no losses of any kind (35.0% in the West Bank and 18.0% in the Gaza Strip).
In this context, the percentage of individuals with tangible losses estimated at 1000 Jordanian dinars ($1400) or more reached 15.6% (20.4% in the West Bank and 12.1% in the Gaza Strip). Also, the percentage of individuals with tangible losses that were estimated at less than 1000 Jordanian dinars reached 84.4% (79.6% in the West Bank and 87.9% in the Gaza Strip).
Moreover, 94.8% of individuals exposed to criminal offense were prone to tangible losses and covered the losses by themselves.
The sample size of the survey was 8,040 households: (5,490 in the West Bank and 2,550 in the Gaza Strip).
M.K.
