Civil Society

The US Palestine solidarity movement is returning to a joint struggle approach, a strategy that faded after the Oslo Accords when dominant solidarity activists focused on Palestine as a single issue. Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Loubna Qutami traces this development, assesses its benefits and challenges, and recommends ways to strengthen organizing for Palestinians in the US.

New technologies have enabled Israel to surveil Palestinians on an unprecedented scale. Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Nadim Nashif examines Israel’s use of social media as a tool of surveillance, as well as other digital obstacles to Palestinian rights, and concludes with ways Palestinians can counter these practices and safeguard their digital freedoms.

The government and corporations of the United Kingdom have recently intensified efforts to censor Palestinian creative expression. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Aimee Shalan traces the roots of these attacks on Palestinian history and culture to the 1917 Balfour Declaration and offers recommendations for how civil society can bring the UK to change its approach.

A recent surge in the production of Palestinian oral history provides a new opportunity for activists defending communities against displacement. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Thayer Hastings outlines an advocacy role for a Palestinian oral history focused on local needs and uses concrete examples to demonstrate how such a role could promote land-based rights.

Israeli military companies such as Elbit Systems appear invincible, yet Israel’s arms industry is more vulnerable than it seems. Al-Shabaka Guest Author Maren Mantovani and Policy Advisor Jamal Juma’ examine both national and global trends and identify avenues for human rights activists to pursue to hold Israel accountable under international law.

Benjamin Netanyahu just declared that Israel has defeated the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Yet the movement continues to chalk up victories while Israel ramps up its attacks against defenders of Palestinian human rights, including BDS activists. Al-Shabaka policy analysts examine these threats against Israel’s previous attacks and explore what activists can do to protect themselves and their work.

Beyond the headlines of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) challenge to Israel, there is continuous debate as the movement matures. What other strategies do Palestinians need? Are comparisons with South Africa appropriate? What about problems with international law? What of gray areas around normalization? Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor and BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti addresses these and more.

The New Year brought further attacks against the Palestinian citizens in Israel’s rights to exercise freedom of speech and association. Left-wing Israeli Jewish organizations are also under increasing pressure. Al-Shabaka policy members Nadim Nashif and Raya Naamneh analyze the impact of these attacks by both the Israeli government and right wing organizations espousing an extremist ideology.

The success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement launched a decade ago owes much to the constancy of its founding principles and the flexibility of its context-specific actions, as is evident in this policy brief written half-way along the road by Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Omar Barghouti and republished today.

Are people’s movements intrinsically superior to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or is there a role for different types of organizations in the Palestinian civil society spectrum? Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Fateh Azzam reviews some of the recent critiques of NGOs in favor of popular movements. He discusses the issues of representation, agendas, and funding, among others, and argues that there is room for all.