After years of delays, Palestinians get high-speed mobile
Political science lecturer Amjad Abu el-Ez lived in London and Dubai for 17 years before returning home in 2014 to teach in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. He was stunned to learn he could barely check his email on the commute from his nearby village because Palestinian mobile carriers do not offer high-speed data.
First, an Economic Peace
Amal Ahmad, a policy member of Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, echoed Abdullah’s sentiments regarding economic independence, but believes that reform will do little for Palestine’s economy without an actual end to the occupation.
A Slow Boat to Fast Data: Why is Palestine Still Waiting for 3G?
As documented by a new report on the country’s telecommunications industry by the Palestinian think tank, Al Shabaka, that speed upgrade has been a long time coming. The Oslo Accords, the agreement struck between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1995, settled that Palestinians should have their own telephone, radio and TV networks, but handed over the details of that to a joint technical committee. As detailed in the Accords, Israel would control all allocation of frequencies and determine where Palestinians could build new infrastructure. Israel consistently foot-dragged since then, delaying Palestinian telcos the ability to upgrade their networks, or share the radio spectrum with Israeli services and companies.
ICT: The shackled engine of Palestine’s development
In the summer of 2015 reports surfaced that Israel and the Palestinian Authority were set to sign an agreement on releasing the long awaited frequencies required for Third and perhaps even Fourth Generation (3G and 4G) systems and services. By November, those plans were reportedly still going ahead. It remains to be seen whether the negotiations are affected by the widespread Palestinian revolt against Israel’s prolonged military occupation and denial of the most basic human rights.
Remembering Yitzhak Rabin
Alaa Tartir, programme director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, said the notion that Rabin would have allowed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is “a myth”.
Israeli rightists push for takeover of Al-Aqsa compound
“Israel’s framing of the conflict along religious lines is an attempt to decontextualise the clashes that have been happening between Palestinians and Israeli settlers,” Nur Arafeh, a policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, told Al Jazeera.
Arafeh said that Palestinian “resistance to a settler-colonial and apartheid” are time and again “distortedly linked to religious fervor”.
Palestinian refugees from Syria: Stranded on the margins of law
Al-Shabaka analysts Abu Moghli, Bitarie and Gabiam review the discriminatory legal framework and identify practical steps that could ensure these refugees’ safety and respect their human rights.
Palestinians clash with Israeli forces across West Bank
Palestinians have clashed with Israeli forces and settlers across the West Bank as violence continued to grip the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian demonstrators marched from a local university to an Israeli settlement, where they were confronted by the army on Sunday afternoon.
More protests were held across the West Bank, including in the city of Nablus, and in the Gaza Strip.
Deaths as Palestinians mark ‘Day of Rage’
Protests have given way to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in areas across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as one Palestinian was killed and dozen others injured while marking a “Day of Rage”, which was called for by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
