As of 2023, Mahmoud Abbas surpasses his democratic mandate as President of the Palestinian Authority by 14 years. And as speculation mounts about his successor, the question of his legacy lingers. In a new Al-Shabaka roundtable, policy analysts Tareq Baconi, Yara Hawari, Alaa Tartir, and Tariq Kenney-Shawa reflect on Abbas’s impact on Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

While normalization deals between the Israeli and Arab regimes continue to spread and deepen, they have historical precedent across the region. In our latest commentary, Al-Shabaka’s senior analyst, Yara Hawari, situates contemporary normalization maneuvers in historical and geopolitical contexts, and describes the implications of these worrying policies on Palestinian liberation and the future of the region.

Exiled Palestinians’ right to Palestinian nationality is protected under international law, irrespective of racist Israeli apartheid policies. How can Palestinians and their leadership in the diaspora activate this right through different legal and political channels? Al-Shabaka’s Commissioning Editor Nadim Bawalsa offers recommendations for how to secure exiled Palestinians their rights to and in Palestine, from wherever they may be.

In light of the evolving roles of Hamas and Islamic Jihad within Palestinian resistance, we revisit our August 2020 piece about incorporating them into a restructured PLO. Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Belal Shobaki, analyzes the movements’ doctrinal and political characteristics since their establishment, and identifies how they can be included in a rebuilt liberation movement.

Donor aid has failed to protect Palestinian Bedouin communities in the E-1 corridor from the Israeli regime’s oppressive policies. Al-Shabaka policy analyst Tamara Tamimi and guest author Osama Risheq show how aid programs in E-1 actually entrench Israeli apartheid. They offer recommendations to donor states, Palestinian civil society organizations, and national stakeholders for how to secure the rights of these communities.

From popular uprisings and repressive security regimes, to normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states, global and regional developments over the past decade have dramatically impacted the Middle East and North Africa. What are the implications of these trends on the Palestinian struggle for liberation? In this commentary, Al-Shabaka’s board president, Tareq Baconi, investigates this question and more.

What does Palestinian statehood beyond partition and the nation-state framework look like? Which alternatives exist and what are the challenges they might present? Al-Shabaka sits with policy analyst Leila Farsakh to discuss these questions and more, following the publication of her new edited volume, Rethinking Statehood in Palestine: Self-Determination and Decolonization Beyond Partition.

In light of the March 2022 Palestinian municipal elections, we revisit our August 2020 piece on the question of representation vis-à-vis elections and consensus-building. Al-Shabaka’s policy analyst, Nijmeh Ali, critically examines different forms of Palestinian political representation given their geographic fragmentation, as well as the structures of the PLO itself, offering suggestions for the future.

Recognition of Israel’s crime of apartheid is increasing throughout the world. How should Palestinians seize this moment and strategize an anti-apartheid movement through legal avenues? Al-Shabaka’s policy analyst, Rania Muhareb, examines the importance of deploying international law in a decolonial Palestinian anti-apartheid movement and offers recommendations for how Palestinians and their allies should strategize it.

The PA and its international donors continue to promote state-centric and technical approaches to climate change that block legitimate climate and environmental justice in Palestine. Al-Shabaka’s policy analyst, Muna Dajani, explains how climate change across colonized Palestine is a political reality defined by Israeli settler colonialism and theft of natural resources. She offers recommendations for bringing meaningful climate justice to Palestine.