58.  GIACAMAN.  R, HUSSEINI. A, GORDON.  N.H, AWARTANI. F.  Imprints on the consciousness:  The impact on Palestinian civilians of the Israeli Army invasion of West Bank towns.  EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 2004; 14: 286–290. 

The study objective is to investigate the impact of the Israeli incursion on the 22^nd of March of 2002 and the subsequent 45 days of curfew on five West Bank towns.  A questionnaire was developed and administered to a selected sample of households from five West Bank towns (Jenin 151 households, Nablus 154 household, Bethlehem 148 households, Ramallah 153 households, and Tulkarm 155 household).  The questions investigated demographic characteristics of the participants and used a 10 item social/health scale to assess the extent of damage; this is a 1-10 scale with 1 indicating the least damage possible and 10 being the most extreme damage.  The results indicated that Jenin had the worst overall damage and physical damage with a score of 6.60 (p-value<0.0001) and 3.64 (p-value<0.0001) respectively.  Bethlehem experienced the most financial difficulties with a score of 1.43 (p-value is the reference) and Ramallah experienced the most Health-related hardships 1.73 (p-value=0.03).  War and conflict inflict unimaginable damages on the civilian population by exhausting all types of resources and destroying cities infrastructure.  The social/health scale provides a broader analysis of the impact of war on the society rather than the traditional assessment of physical damage only.