Paper Title
PATERNAL AGRICULTURAL LAND DISPUTE IN PALESTINE; A STATISTICAL STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE JENIN GOVERNORATE

Abstract
The problem of agricultural land inheritance and its consequent dispute between the inheritors has become the most important social problems in Palestine. Thus farmers and farm lands are the most affected and thereby, the agricultural sector. Jenin governorate was selected for the study as it is the major contributor of agricultural production in Palestine. The vegetable and fruit tree productions in this governorate are 90724 and 50992 metric tons. Such productions occupy about 28% and 20% of the total production in the West Bank part of Palestine respectively. Furthermore, 15% of the West Bank cattle are reared in such governorate. The results showed that the attitude of Palestinian people to deprive and/or to minimize the share of females is one reason of dispute. According to the statistical analysis 67% of Palestinian people in the studied governorate do not give females their actual shares. Furthermore, 90% of agricultural lands of the studied governorate are common land and 79% of which have dispute between the heirs. As dispute is a normal part of any healthy relationship, so dealing with dispute – rather than ignoring it – is crucial. This study proposes for the inclusion of dispute resolution strategies depending on application of the laws of the Islamic religion of inheritance, which ensure a fair distribution of quotas between men and women. Such laws handle the dispute in a respectful positive way that provides opportunities to strengthen the bond between people. As for mental illnesses and problems caused by unfair land division systems, the statistical study and analysis showed that not dividing the land and giving the heir his right leads to many problems such as boycott, disturbing dreams, psychological anxiety, dissatisfaction and self-contempt. As for the deprived woman, she feels injustice, oppression, anger and negative thinking, and sometimes her demand for her rights leads to physical or verbal abuse or murder. In some cases, she is deprived of marriage because of the inheritance, which leads to a bad psychological situation and may lead to suicide or entering a psychiatric clinic. Keywords - Paternal Land Dispute, Psychological and Mental Illness, Statistical Analysis, Palestine