Table of Contents
Overview of Everyday Realities
Daily life under occupation is marked by a constant awareness that movement, economic activity, and even family life are subject to military and administrative control. For Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, this does not look the same everywhere or for everyone. Experiences differ by location, social class, gender, age, and political involvement. Still, there are recurring patterns. People plan their days around checkpoints and closures, navigate complex permit systems, adapt to recurring violence or the threat of it, and build informal networks to cope. At the same time, many aspects of ordinary life continue. Children go to school, weddings take place, people work, study, and use social media. The tension between normal routines and abnormal constraints is one of the most characteristic features of daily life under occupation.
Movement, Checkpoints, and Permits
In the occupied territories, moving from one place to another is rarely a simple matter of distance and time. It is shaped by checkpoints staffed by soldiers, roadblocks, and a system of roads that often differentiate between Israeli and Palestinian traffic. Palestinians in the West Bank, for example, may encounter fixed checkpoints at major junctions, as well as temporary checkpoints that appear without warning. Waiting times can be short or very long, and delays are unpredictable. This affects commuting to work, attending university, visiting family, and accessing hospitals.
In many cases, Palestinians need permits to enter certain areas, especially East Jerusalem, some parts of the West Bank, and Israel proper. Permits are typically issued for specific purposes, such as medical treatment, work, or religious holidays, and can be revoked without detailed explanation. Applying for a permit requires interaction with military or civil administration offices, repeated paperwork, and sometimes the assistance of intermediaries. The uncertainty of whether a permit will be granted or renewed can shape long term life decisions, including where to live, work, or study.
For people in Gaza, movement restrictions are even more severe. Exits through border crossings are usually limited to a small number of categories, such as urgent medical cases, certain business permits, or exceptional humanitarian situations. Long waiting lists and security checks add another layer of difficulty. For many residents, leaving the territory at all is impossible for years at a time.
Housing, Demolitions, and Urban Space
Where people live under occupation is closely connected to the legal and political framework. In parts of the West Bank and in many Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, homes may lack approved building permits because the authorities grant very few. Families often build or expand anyway to accommodate growth, which leaves them at risk of demolition orders. The possibility that a home might be demolished, either for lacking a permit or as a punitive measure after an attack, introduces a permanent insecurity. Children may grow up with memories of seeing houses in their neighborhood destroyed, or with the fear that their own home could be next.
Urban space is also shaped by physical barriers and restricted zones. The separation barrier, military zones, and areas reserved for settlements can divide villages from their farmland, or neighborhoods from each other. Paths that used to be a short walk can become long detours. In some cities, such as Hebron, entire streets have been closed to most Palestinian traffic, altering commercial life and social interaction. Residents adapt by developing informal shortcuts, sharing information about which routes are open, and sometimes relocating businesses to more accessible areas.
Work, Livelihoods, and the Local Economy
Earning a living under occupation involves constant negotiation with the restrictions that surround people. In the West Bank, some Palestinians work in local agriculture, construction, services, or small manufacturing, but access to land and markets can be limited. Farmers might face difficulties reaching their fields if they lie behind barriers or near settlements, especially during harvest seasons. Obtaining permission to cross gates in the barrier or enter certain zones often involves strict schedules controlled by the military.
Many Palestinian workers seek higher wages by working in Israel or in Israeli settlements. This requires work permits, which can be denied or withdrawn. Losing a permit can mean a sudden drop in income for an entire family. Those without permits may try to enter through gaps in the barrier or remote areas, which carries legal and physical risks. Informal labor is common, with fewer protections and vulnerabilities to exploitation.
In Gaza, the economic situation is shaped by restrictions on imports and exports, damage to infrastructure, and periodic large scale military operations. Businesses struggle with unreliable electricity and difficulties importing raw materials or exporting finished goods. Many people depend on aid, public sector employment, or part time jobs. Youth unemployment rates are especially high, leading many young people to feel that their prospects are blocked regardless of their education or skills.
Education Under Constraints
For Palestinian students and teachers, education involves both ordinary classroom activities and extraordinary disruptions. In many West Bank communities, students traveling to schools or universities pass through checkpoints daily, and may face delays that make them late or cause them to miss exams. Some schools are located near military posts, settlement roads, or areas of frequent clashes. On days of tension, movement may be restricted or parents may keep children at home for safety.
Universities play an important social and political role, but students can face arrests, travel bans, or denial of permits to attend conferences abroad. Campus life is sometimes interrupted by raids, searches, or closure orders. Nonetheless, student organizations, cultural events, and academic programs continue to function, and higher education remains a key aspiration for many families.
In Gaza, repeated conflicts have destroyed or damaged schools and universities. Even in calmer periods, electricity cuts, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of resources challenge educators. Online learning can be hampered by poor connectivity. Teachers adapt by shifting schedules, using printed materials when digital tools fail, and running classes in temporary locations after buildings are damaged.
Health, Hospitals, and Access to Care
Health care under occupation is shaped as much by mobility restrictions as by medical expertise. In many parts of the West Bank, clinics provide basic services, but patients who need specialized treatment often must travel to hospitals in major cities, East Jerusalem, or abroad. This requires permits, transportation, and time. Ambulances may be delayed at checkpoints, which affects emergency response time. In emergencies, families sometimes transport patients in private vehicles to bypass delays, which can be risky.
Chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer require regular treatment and reliable medication supplies. Interruptions in supply chains due to closures or restrictions can lead to shortages. Medical practitioners and administrators spend significant effort on logistics, securing medicines, and negotiating passage for patients.
In Gaza, hospitals and clinics operate under continuous pressure. Electricity shortages influence the functioning of vital equipment and cold storage for medications. During and after military escalations, large numbers of wounded arrive at hospitals that are already strained. Medical staff must perform triage, work long shifts, and sometimes treat patients in corridors or makeshift wards. Patients who need advanced treatment unavailable in Gaza must be referred outside, which again requires permits and coordination with external authorities. The uncertainty surrounding these referrals adds anxiety to already difficult medical situations.
Family Life, Gender, and Generational Gaps
Inside homes, families try to maintain routines of meals, celebrations, and religious observance. At the same time, the occupation affects family decisions in subtle and direct ways. Marriage choices can be shaped by where partners live, since movement between different zones or cities can be difficult. It may be hard for couples to live together if one spouse lacks the right permits or residency status. Families worry about sons being arrested, daughters being harassed at checkpoints, or relatives being prevented from traveling for funerals or weddings.
Gender roles interact with the constraints of occupation. Women often shoulder additional burdens, including caring for family members traumatized by violence, managing households during curfews or closures, and sometimes becoming primary breadwinners if male relatives are imprisoned or lose access to work. At the same time, women participate in professional life, activism, and education, and have their own experiences of checkpoints, work, and public space.
Generational gaps are also significant. Older Palestinians may remember periods of relatively fewer restrictions and compare those memories to current conditions. Young people who have known only the current system may experience a different kind of frustration and may be more heavily influenced by social media and digital narratives. Children play in streets where soldiers, armed settlers, or police are present, and they internalize the language of permits, IDs, and checkpoints at an early age.
Encounters with Authorities and Legal Uncertainty
Daily life under occupation includes frequent encounters with soldiers, police, and various branches of the civil and military administration. These encounters can be routine, such as ID checks or vehicle searches, or intrusive, such as night raids on homes or arrests. People learn how to speak to soldiers, when to ask questions, and when to stay silent. Parents teach their children how to behave at checkpoints to avoid confrontation.
Legal uncertainty is a constant backdrop. Many Palestinians in the West Bank live under a combination of military orders and local regulations. These include rules concerning land, construction, protests, and association. People sometimes face detention without trial, which is officially temporary but may be renewed repeatedly. Lawyers, human rights groups, and local organizations work to challenge these practices, but for ordinary residents the system can feel opaque and arbitrary.
In East Jerusalem, residents often have a different legal status from citizens of Israel, which affects access to services, social benefits, and future security. Losing residency rights is a recurring concern, especially for those who spend extended periods living or studying outside the city.
Daily Life in Gaza Under Blockade
Gaza combines elements found elsewhere under occupation with the specific effects of long term blockade and repeated wars. Residents adjust to frequent or prolonged electricity cuts by organizing their days around generator schedules. Refrigerators, water pumps, and internet routers may work only for a few hours at a time. People charge phones and laptops when power is available and limit their use when it is not.
The blockade affects what is available in shops. Certain goods are scarce or expensive, while others arrive in irregular waves. Households adjust diets, business owners change what they can offer, and informal markets thrive. Fishermen face restrictions on how far they can go out to sea, which affects both livelihood and the local food supply.
Periods of armed escalation shape daily life on an intense scale. Families keep emergency bags ready, know where shelters or safer rooms are located, and follow news and social media closely to assess danger. Children learn to distinguish different sounds, such as drones or artillery. After each round of fighting, people rebuild homes, schools, and businesses, often with limited resources. The cycles of destruction and reconstruction influence how people think about the future and whether they invest in long term projects.
Psychological Stress and Coping Mechanisms
Living under constant or recurring pressure has psychological effects. Many people experience anxiety, depression, or symptoms related to trauma, especially after exposure to raids, demolitions, or armed clashes. Children may have nightmares, difficulty concentrating in school, or fear of loud noises. Adults may suffer from chronic stress related to economic insecurity, restrictions on movement, and worries about the safety of family members.
At the same time, communities develop coping mechanisms. Religious faith, cultural traditions, and family support networks play a major role. Social gatherings, weddings, and religious holidays are observed with particular intensity, partly as affirmations of continuity and resilience. Humor and satire, including online content, provide outlets for frustration. Artists, writers, and musicians express personal and collective experiences through their work, which can be both therapeutic and political.
Local organizations, NGOs, and health professionals offer counseling, youth activities, and community programs designed to mitigate psychological harm. However, demand often exceeds available services, especially in areas that have recently experienced violence or where professional mental health infrastructure is weak.
Everyday Forms of Resistance and Adaptation
Resistance under occupation is not only expressed in organized political actions. It is also woven into everyday practices. Choosing to remain on threatened land, to cultivate fields near settlements, or to rebuild after a demolition are often described by participants as acts of steadfastness. Parents frame the pursuit of education as a form of resistance, investing in children’s schooling despite obstacles. Business owners who keep shops open amid downturns see their work as a refusal to give in to despair.
At the same time, adaptation can involve compromise. Some people disengage from overt politics to focus on family and survival. Others cooperate with administrative systems in order to secure permits, jobs, or services. There can be tension within communities between those who prioritize resistance and those who emphasize stability or personal advancement. These tensions appear in daily conversations, social media debates, and generational disagreements.
Even small acts, such as choosing which language to use in public, what to post online, or whether to attend a demonstration, are influenced by calculations of risk and meaning. Daily life under occupation is therefore not simply passive endurance. It is a continual process of negotiating constraints, asserting agency where possible, and deciding when to accept, resist, or circumvent the structures that shape everyday existence.
The Search for Normalcy
Despite all these constraints, many aspects of life under occupation resemble life elsewhere. People fall in love, follow sports teams, binge watch television series, and care about fashion and music. Cafes open in city centers, students gather to study, and families go on short trips when they can. This pursuit of normalcy is often deliberate. Residents speak about wanting their children to have as ordinary a childhood as possible, even in extraordinary conditions.
The coexistence of the ordinary and the abnormal gives daily life under occupation its particular character. A person may spend the morning in a long queue at a checkpoint, the afternoon at work or university, and the evening with friends at a café or online, sharing jokes and videos. Understanding this blend of continuity and disruption is crucial to grasping how occupation is experienced not only as a political structure, but as a lived reality that shapes time, space, relationships, and aspirations day after day.