New digital technologies have reinvigorated the Palestinian cause locally and globally. However, Palestinians and their allies have been increasingly targeted online, including through surveillance, silencing, and cyberthreats. In this Focus On, Al-Shabaka analysts examine these trends and address Israeli surveillance tactics, the complicity of the PA, and how Palestinians and their allies can resist violations of their digital rights.

Jerusalem is increasingly at the center of developments across colonized Palestine. Indeed, from forced expulsions to attacks on worshipers, the Israeli regime is determined to de-Palestinianize the city. In light of Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign and Palestinian Jerusalemites’ resistance to it, Al-Shabaka revisits the topic of Jerusalem with a new selection of publications from our analysts.

In our first policy lab of 2020, Zena Agha and Ahmad Barclay join host Nur Arafeh to discuss the ways in which maps and other visualization tools serve as sites to entrench power disparities as well as to empower communities to reimagine their colonized homelands.

The practice of mapping in Palestine-Israel has long been an exercise in power, imperialism, and dispossession. Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Zena Agha examines how Palestinians have been excluded from maps of their own land from the British Mandate to today, and explores ways that Palestinians can – and do – reclaim maps as a means of resistance. 

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 Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, passed by the US Congress in 1997 under the pretext of protecting Israel’s national security, prevents US satellite operators and retailers from selling or disseminating high-resolution images of Palestine-Israel. Al-Shabaka US Policy Fellow Zena Agha argues that the legislation is an act of censorship that also harms US business, and calls for its dissolution. 

Palestinians are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to the Israeli occupation. In this policy brief, Al-Shabaka US Policy Fellow Zena Agha examines how Israel’s appropriation of Palestinian natural resources and restrictions on movement prevents Palestinians from pursuing climate change adaption, and recommends options available to those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Despite Palestinians and Israelis inhabiting the same terrain, Palestinians will suffer the effects of climate change more severely. Al-Shabaka US Policy Fellow Zena Agha examines how the Israeli occupation prevents Palestinians from managing their land and resources and the Palestinian Authority from supporting climate change adaptation, and recommends ways to strengthen Palestinians’ ability to counter the climate crisis.

Is the global Palestine solidarity movement exerting its energy in the right places? How can the movement better coordinate with developments in Palestine? Is Palestinian self-determination sufficiently reflected within the movement? On the 2018 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Al-Shabaka's Zena Agha is joined by analysts Loubna Qutami and Randa Wahbe to explore these challenging questions and more.

The US administration is waging an assault against Palestinian refugees. Al-Shabaka US Policy Fellow Zena Agha analyzes US cuts to UNRWA and Congressional bills that aim to reconstitute the state of Palestinian refugees to squelch Palestinian claims to sovereignty and repatriation, and suggests strategies that pro-Palestinian constituents and civil society can use to counter these acts.