Article - The Palestinian Elections: Real Change or Reality Check?

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are bracing for the first general elections to take place in 15 years, while the Palestinian Authority seeks to renew its legitimacy amid shifting regional and global realities.

Who are the leaders and political bodies Palestinians will be voting for? How are these elections affected by regional and global stakeholders? Given Israel’s ongoing military occupation and the deepening fragmentation of Palestinian civil society, can these elections bring about significant change?

In this policy lab, Al-Shabaka policy analysts Diana Buttu and Munir Nuseibah join host Nadim Bawalsa to discuss these questions and more.

Nadim Bawalsa is Associate Editor with the Journal of Palestine Studies. From 2020-2023, Nadim served as Al-Shabaka’s commissioning editor. He is a historian of modern...
Munir Nuseibah is a human rights lawyer and academic based in Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, Palestine. He is an assistant professor at Al-Quds University's faculty...
Diana Buttu is a lawyer who previously served as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team and was part of the team that assisted...
(2021, March 11)

Latest Analysis

 Economics
US tech giants portray themselves as architects of a better world powered by artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and data-driven solutions. Under slogans like “AI for Good,” they promise ethical innovation and social progress. Yet in Gaza, these narratives have collapsed, alongside international norms and what remains of the so-called rules-based order. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has highlighted the role of major technology companies in enabling military operations and sustaining the occupation. Beneath the destruction lie servers, neural networks, and software built by some of the world’s most powerful corporations. As Israel weaponizes AI and data analytics to kill Palestinians and destroy their homes, the militarization of digital technologies and infrastructures is redefining accountability and exposing a governance vacuum. This policy brief traces how corporate complicity now extends to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide—and calls for urgent regulation of AI militarization.
Al-Shabaka Marwa Fatafta
Marwa Fatafta· Oct 26, 2025
 Politics
In this policy lab, Leila Farsakh and Abdaljawad Omar join host Tariq Kenney-Shawa to trace the historical trajectory leading to October 7, examine how Gaza has become both a site of extermination and a catalyst for global rupture, and discuss what comes next for Palestinians.
 Politics
For two years, Israel has inflicted mass starvation, staggering death tolls, and relentless destruction on Gaza and its inhabitants. International efforts to recognize Israeli war crimes and halt the eradication of the Palestinian people continue to lag and fall short. On September 16, 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry confirmed what Palestinians have identified since the outset: Israel is committing genocide. On September 29, US President Donald Trump unveiled a proposal that promises a ceasefire but subordinates Palestinians in Gaza to external governance, denies them self-determination, and entrenches Israeli control over the land. Framed as a peace initiative, the plan is in fact an attempt by the US to shield the Israeli regime from accountability, exemplifying Western complicity in the colonization of Palestine and the extermination of its people. In this context, Hamas’s agreement to release all Israeli captives signals its commitment to ending the ongoing violence, while simultaneously shifting the onus onto the Israeli regime and the Trump administration to clarify and operationalize their commitments to the ceasefire process. This Focus On gathers Al-Shabaka’s analyses from the past year, offering urgent context to understand the genocide and its regional impact. It traces the Israeli regime’s expansionist campaign across Gaza, the West Bank, and the wider region, exposing Western complicity not only in enabling its crimes but also in protecting it from justice. At the same time, it highlights initiatives that resist Israeli impunity while advancing accountability and genuine liberation.
Skip to content