Economics

The Palestinian Authority claims it is looking for ways to delink from Israel. It should start with the Paris Protocol: It expired 19 years ago but continues to be the basis for economic relations. Al-Shabaka Analyst Nur Arafeh demonstrates how the Protocol has hurt the Palestinian economy while benefiting Israel and outlines alternative economic arrangements.

Palestinian women in Israel have one of the world’s lowest labor participation rates, while their Jewish counterparts have one of the highest. Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Suheir Daoud argues this is not simply a result of “Palestinian culture” or “Islam,” but of Israeli state policies, and recommends ways Palestinians can promote Palestinian women’s rights in Israel.

Though apartheid is an important framework for challenging Israeli rule, Al-Shabaka Analyst Haidar Eid and Guest Contributor Andy Clarno argue that true justice can only come by recognizing apartheid as not only a system of racial discrimination, but also of racial capitalism. Drawing on the South African example, the authors recommend ways to move the analysis forward.

The Israeli occupation does not only exist above ground. Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Tareq Baconi examines how Israel enjoys a gas bonanza while barring the Gaza Strip from tapping its own fields. He argues that Palestinian dependency on Israeli energy amidst US calls for “economic peace” undermines Palestinian rights, and suggests ways to challenge this status quo.

Israel’s engineered economic collapse of East Jerusalem has rendered it essentially unlivable for Palestinians. Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh focuses on two of the city’s strategic assets that exemplify this collapse, tourism and the commercial markets of the Old City, and examines both existing and potential Palestinian initiatives of sumud, or steadfastness, that challenge Israeli-imposed obstacles.

Israel is marshaling pro-Israel forces in Europe as well as in the US against the European Union’s recently issued guidelines on labeling some of its settlement products, for fear that this will lead to stronger measures. Al-Shabaka’s Nur Arafeh, Samia al-Botmeh and Leila Farsakh debunk Israel’s arguments both as regards the impact on the Palestinian economy as well as on Palestinian workers.

World attention has been focusing on the Palestinian revolt against Israel’s military occupation. Meanwhile, plans were reportedly still going ahead for an Israeli release of frequencies required for long-awaited 3G and even 4G systems and services. Al-Shabaka analysts Nur Arafeh, Wassim Abdullah, and Sam Bahour provide an incisive account of Israeli obstacles to the Palestinian sector’s development that have led to hundreds of millions in direct losses and lost opportunities.

81% of the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation rank the problem of corruption second only to the occupation itself. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Tariq Dana analyzes the systems and actors involved, arguing that corruption is a structural problem with longstanding political roots that cannot be tackled through adopting codes of conduct and other technical solutions.

Palestinian women have one of the lowest rates of labor force participation in the world -despite higher primary and secondary enrolment ratios than males in the entire Middle East and North Africa. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Samia Al-Botmeh examines the trends and proposes policies that move beyond the supply side to focus on demand for women’s labor.

Technical solutions shorn of political context have contributed to a failed state in Palestine and harmed the collective Palestinian struggle for freedom, transforming the Palestinian Authority into an NGO-like body.  Al-Shabaka Policy Member Ibrahim Shikaki and Guest Author Joanna Springer analyze the situation and suggest alternative approaches for the PA and the donor community. Read the policy brief or the executive summary.