With the demise of the so-called two-state solution and the entrenchment of Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid across Palestine, the possibility of a sovereign Palestinian state is further from reality than ever before. What does a Palestinian political future beyond partition look like? What would this entail for Palestinians within colonized Palestine and across the diaspora? Given their forced fragmentation, how might Palestinians forge collective visions for their political future? In our latest Focus On, Al-Shabaka’s policy analysts imagine Palestinian political futures within the context of historical and ongoing realities. 

Al-Shabaka policy analysts Leila Farsakh and Ahmad Khalidi join us for a discussion with host Nadim Bawalsa about these unfolding developments in Palestinian leadership.

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.

As the Palestinian general elections fast approach, many are wondering whether new leadership would create opportunities for self-determined Palestinian economic development. But with Israel’s ongoing siege, occupation, and fragmentation of Palestinians, and the COVID-19 pandemic crippling the Palestinian leadership’s ability to meet people’s most basic needs, can Palestinians really anticipate significant changes to their daily…

In this compilation Al-Shabaka’s top analysts dissect the Accords’ political and economic dimensions and discuss their repercussions for Palestinians while also providing recommendations on ways forward.

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.

As Mahmoud Abbas heads to the United Nations to secure non-member state status for Palestine, he faces a strong and growing movement among Palestinian civil society activists within and outside the occupied Palestinian territory to reframe the Palestinian struggle as fighting against an apartheid Israeli regime and for inalienable Palestinian rights – and not for a state per se. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Leila Farsakh discusses Abbas’ attempts to placate this movement while retaining control of his political program.