Data Communications and Internet Even though all Palestinian long distance communications are under Israeli control and are integrated through the Israeli telephone networks, Israel continues to refuse leased line connections for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strictly on political grounds. This situation is holding back networking for Palestinians on a national, regional and global levels. While at least 40,000 Israelis connected to the same network enjoy full Internet services mostly through institutions connected by leased lines, only a small fraction of Palestinians have Internet access through dial-up connections to Israeli service providers or to Palestinian service providers who are connected to Israeli service providers. It will be a major challenge for the Palestine Telecommunications Company to develop an independent data network with Internet access to the PA areas. Within the next few months, PalTel will take over all telephone services in PA areas.
Most exchanges are modern digital switches.
This means that telephones using these exchanges are generally clean for data transmission. However, as mentioned earlier, the penetration level of telephones is very low. Another problem being faced at present is the lack of expertise in running and operating these exchanges. This is a temporary problem that is being dealt with through training and expatriate expert assistance. Another potentially problematic area is the installed wiring and cabling.