Palestine Beyond Partition and the Nation-State

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.

For decades, Lebanese and Palestinian leadership, as well as the international aid community, have been complicit in Palestinian refugees’ destitution in Lebanon’s camps. However, the tide is shifting. Al-Shabaka’s policy analyst, Mai Abu Moghli, examines how Palestinians in Lebanon have been increasingly staking claims to their rights through collective mobilization, charting a new and revolutionary path for themselves in the country.

Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has invested heavily in privatized city planning during the post-Fayyad years in order to promote economic growth and state-scale stability. How have private, neoliberal housing development projects entrenched the status quo of Palestine’s subordination to Israel? Al-Shabaka sat down with policy analyst, Kareem Rabie, to investigate this question and more.

Hamas has achieved unprecedented support among Palestinians since May 2021. How has it developed as an Islamic resistance movement and as a governing body since its participation in the Palestinian political sphere in 2005? Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Belal Shobaki, investigates the ongoing fundamental dilemmas and challenges faced by the movement, and its different strategies to resolve them.

The latest Palestinian uprising against Israeli settler-colonial rule has been dubbed the “Unity Intifada.” It has brought Palestinians across colonized Palestine in unprecedented national unity around a shared struggle for liberation from ethnic cleansing, fragmentation, and settler colonization. Al-Shabaka’s Senior Analyst, Yara Hawari, examines the historical and contemporary implications of the Unity Intifada, and offers critical insight into how we must understand this unity.  

Gaza is in a state of total collapse. How has the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenges Palestinians in Gaza experience as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation and political division in their leadership? Al-Shabaka member Ali Abdel-Wahab examines the impacts of these three factors on the lives of Gazans, and describes their strategies for confronting this reality. 

For Palestinians, the Palestinian leadership’s year-end decision to restore security coordination with Israel means a return to a status quo that did little to forward Palestinian liberation. Yet 2020 has demonstrated that radical and abrupt change to established orders is possible. Can Palestinians aspire to such changes in the new year? Marwa Fatafta explores how Palestinians can reclaim and redefine their leadership in the PLO. 

COVID-19 is stalking Hebron, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem despite all efforts to keep it at bay. What lessons can be drawn from the Palestinian leadership's response of the past months at the national and community level? Al-Shabaka policy analysts Fadi Quran and Tahani Mustafa draw insights, lessons and conclusions based on a review of global and local actions.  

The PLO has been hollowed out by the creation of the PA, which itself is on the brink as Israeli annexation looms. What features of Palestinian leadership contributed to this near-terminal state? Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Jamil Hilal’s sweeping review of the past 100 years identifies critical elements such as strategic thinking, unity, and access to information that went missing during key periods.