What’s Required to Revive the PLO?
As the Israeli regime continues its genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, many have begun to weigh in on the future of Hamas and of Palestinian leadership more broadly once the bombardment ends. One of the dominant proposals is the revival of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), with Hamas as a member party.
But revival of the PLO requires more than bringing Hamas into the fold, as the Fatah-controlled PA has effectively whittled down the PLO to a barren institution. What then, beyond inclusion, is needed in order to resuscitate the viability of the PLO? In an effort to strengthen the generative thinking around these questions, Al-Shabaka revisits a collection of its past works that sought to confront this very topic.
An Inevitable Rupture: Al-Aqsa Flood and the End of Partition
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.
Genocide in Gaza: Global Culpability and Ways Forward
The Israeli regime’s ongoing genocide in Gaza has caused widespread devastation across the besieged area. Palestinians have reaffirmed consistently that there is no safe place in Gaza, and that this current assault by the Israeli military is only the latest in over 75 years of attempted ethnic cleansing. As global solidarity with the Palestinian people reaches unprecedented levels, Western powers continue to lend their support to Israel’s efforts towards Palestinian erasure. In this devastating yet critical moment, Al Shabaka’s Tariq Kenney-Shawa, Fathi Nimer, 24588, and Alaa Tartir weigh in on the unfolding situation since October 7th, 2023, and position it within the context of ongoing Israeli settler colonialism and Palestinian resistance.
Grounding the Current Moment: An Al-Shabaka Syllabus
As much of the world struggles to make sense of the devastation across colonized Palestine since October 7th, Palestinians speaking out continue to be dehumanized and silenced in an effort to quash testimonies that challenge the dominant discourse. To counter this strategy, Al-Shabaka has compiled a collection of its past works that may serve to ground readers in the wider context of this current moment. Together, these publications, webinars, and podcasts speak to the many layers that form the foundation of this point of rupture. They offer possibilities for new ways both to understand the past and present, as well as to envision a radically different future.
The Dangerous Exceptionalism of Christian Zionism
In recent years, much has been written about the overwhelming support former President Donald Trump has received from white evangelical Christians, particularly Christian Zionists. Less examined is the relationship between white supremacy and Christian Zionism, namely their overlapping ideologies and political clout.
In this policy brief, analysts 24418 and 24484 examine the sinister synergy between Christian Zionism and white supremacy, unpacking the exceptionalism upon which Christian Zionist racist ideologies, discourses, and politics are based.
Focus On: Visions for Political Futures
With the demise of the so-called two-state solution and the entrenchment of Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid across Palestine, the possibility of a sovereign Palestinian state is further from reality than ever before. What does a Palestinian political future beyond partition look like? What would this entail for Palestinians within colonized Palestine and across the diaspora? Given their forced fragmentation, how might Palestinians forge collective visions for their political future? In our latest Focus On, Al-Shabaka’s policy analysts imagine Palestinian political futures within the context of historical and ongoing realities.
The PA’s Revolving Door: A Key Policy in Security Coordination
Last month, Israeli forces violently raided the West Bank city of Jenin. PA President Mahmoud Abbas visited the area shortly thereafter, accompanied by a slew of Palestinian security forces. Days later, the PA began an arrest campaign of its own, detaining members of various factions throughout the West Bank. Such a cycle encompasses a critical component of PA-Israeli security coordination: the revolving door/al-bab al-dawaar. In our latest policy memo, Al-Shabaka analyst Alaa Tartir examines the protocol and offers recommendations to both Palestinian leadership and civil society for ways forward.
Israel’s National Guard: A Tool for Palestinian Erasure
Benjamin Netanyahu has given far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir the go-ahead to establish Israel’s first national guard. Distinct from other Israeli forces, the national guard is designed primarily to target Palestinian citizens of Israel. In this policy memo, guest contributor 24352 looks at the emergence of the new force in order to understand its implications for Palestinian citizens of Israel and proposes recommendations to relevant stakeholders for how to challenge it and protect Palestinians.
Liberal Zionism: A Pillar of Israel’s Settler Colonial Project
Despite the Israeli regime’s increasingly right-wing policies, liberal Zionism still plays a dominant role in Zionist ideology. It fulfills the specific and critical function of providing the settler colonial project with the veneer of enlightened, Western civilization and democratic, progressive politics. In our latest policy brief, Al Shabaka analyst M. Muhannad Ayyash exposes this veneer and proposes a guiding framework for how to confront and invalidate the notion of liberal Zionism.
