Palestine has an abundance of natural resources, but in the decades since the establishment of the state of Israel they have been compromised and exploited. In this collection of analysis, Al-Shabaka experts provide insight into issues related to Palestinian natural resources, from their theft by Israel to the effects of climate change and its intersection with the Israeli occupation.

The Trump Administration’s aid cuts to Palestinians, while disastrous, can spur a reassessment of the Oslo Accords aid model, which for decades has failed to bring Palestinians closer to freedom, self-determination, or statehood. In this collection of pieces, Al-Shabaka analysts examine aid to Palestine and its harmful ramifications, and suggest ways to reform and reinvent Palestinian aid.

Does Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people constitute apartheid? And is apartheid the best framework to apply to Palestine and the Palestinians to achieve freedom, justice, and equality? As 2018 marks 70 years since the Nakba - or catastrophe - began, this collection of Al-Shabaka analysis over the years helps shed light on the debate.

Palestinian educational institutions, faculty, and students have not been spared the violence of Israel’s military crackdown across the Occupied Palestinian Territory this summer. Campus raids, the confiscation of student property, and airstrike damage to schools are just some examples of Israel’s recent acts of aggression against education.

Israeli apartheid is often compared to South Africa’s but Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Samer Abdelnour argues that it is a unique brand with specific characteristics. He identifies three inter-locking dimensions of Israeli apartheid – physical, architecture, and ideological – concluding that it is far more sophisticated than the South African brand and suggesting directions for thinking and action to successfully dismantle it.

For Palestinians, agriculture is more than a source of income or an economic category in budgets and plans. It is tied to the people’s history, identity, and self-expression, and drives the struggle against Israel’s Separation Wall. In this brief, Lebanese activist, author, and agronomist Rami Zurayk joins Al-Shabaka Policy Advisors Samer Abdelnour and Alaa Tartir to tackle the almost spiritual significance of the land to the Palestinians and the deliberate Israeli efforts to break the link between farmers and their crops. Click below for the full brief or read the executive summary.

In an important recent piece - Economic Hallucination - Ramallah-based Al-Shabaka policy advisor Sam Bahour exposed the charade played by both Western donors and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cover up the occupied territory’s inexorable economic meltdown after decades of Israeli military occupation. Arguing that the combined donor-PA approach poses major obstacles to freedom and rights, Bahour concluded: “It’s time for a new economic model, one built on economic justice, social welfare, solidarity, and sustainability.” What would such an economic model look like and how can Palestinians living under occupation move from today’s grim reality to an economy that sustains the quest for self-determination? Al-Shabaka policy advisors Alaa Tartir and Samer Abdelnour join Bahour to debate these questions and explore alternatives.

In the second Al-Shabaka commentary on the "Palestine Papers," Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Samer Abdelnour examines the integral role played by the aid industry in ensuring the de-development of the Palestinian economy.

Politically-motivated aid for the occupied Palestinian territories has ostensibly promoted “development” and “reconstruction” while indirectly supporting Israel’s policies of occupation and Palestinian de-development. The result: a steady increase in Palestinian poverty rates, ongoing Israeli expropriation of Palestinian lands and resources, and the continuing blockade of Gaza. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Samer Abdelnour argues that Palestinians need a drastic change in development approach.