Hamas’s surprise offensive on October 7th, 2023, dealt the most lethal blow to the Israeli military and public since Israel’s establishment in 1948. In retaliation, Israel launched the most extensive military assault on Gaza in its history. The speed with which Israel mobilized and the scale of its assault underscore the Palestinian conviction that the settler colonial regime is executing long-held plans for mass expulsion. Against this backdrop, Al-Shabaka Board President Tareq Baconi anchors Israel’s latest assault on Gaza in its wider context. He unpacks Israel’s ghettoization of Palestinian land and pinpoints Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Flood operation as a moment of rupture for the partition framework, bringing the question of what comes after partition to the forefront.

As the Israeli regime escalates its apartheid and settler colonial practices in Palestine, calls for accountability are mounting. Among these demands are growing calls for sanctions. In this interview, Al-Shabaka speaks with Khaled Elgindy and Nada Elia for further insight on this topic. Together, they detail the varied forms that sanctions may take, their potential to affect meaningful change, and distinguish how sanctions targeting the Israeli regime would differ from those wielded by Western powers in other contexts.

Consensus-building can be a long and challenging process. In the case of Palestine, achieving consensus among the forcibly fragmented Palestinian people is both particularly difficult and of critical importance in order to create a united national movement. In our latest commentary, Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Jaber Suleiman weighs in on the role of consensus-building in the context of a liberation struggle and draws on lessons from Palestinian organizing in Lebanon.

The Palestinian Authority’s budget disproportionately relies on clearance revenues that the Israeli regime regularly withholds as political blackmail. Combined with a negligible domestic tax base and the absence of political sovereignty, it is therefore futile to speak of real fiscal reform within the PA. In this policy brief, Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Amal Ahmad, examines the foundational logic of this distorted arrangement.

Youth in Gaza have engaged in the digital revolution, especially through social media platforms, to express themselves and critique their corrupt leadership. What are the implications of this turn to technology for Palestinians in Gaza? Can this form of expression affect change in leadership and foster self-determination? Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Ali Abdel Wahab, explores these questions in our latest commentary.

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.

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.

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.