Obama, Abbas note challenges to ‘elusive goal’ of Mideast peace
Al-Shabaka Director Nadia Hijab is quoted: “As Mahmoud Abbas left his meeting with U.S. president Barack Obama today, did he reflect on the lessons of seeking peace without power?”
EU Aid to Palestinians: Help or Hindrance?
“Aid has not helped to fulfil Palestinians dreams, nor did it lead to sustainable development. Independence is today further away than 20 years ago,” Alaa Tartir, Al-Shabaka Program Director, told IRIN.
Aid will never buy peace
“…As someone who spent the last few years of his life in Europe pursuing postgraduate studies, I must say … the EU, its countries and institutions, deny their very own democratic principles and normative values … where they are not applied to Israel-Palestine. To do all of this, two prerequisites must exist: the political will, and the ability to challenge the dishonest broker in the peace process, the United States … These suggestions are not coming from a dreamer, but rather from a Palestinian who has lived three decades of his life under Israeli military occupation.” –AlShabaka Program Director Alaa Tartir in an interview that draws upon Al-Shabaka’s extensive economic policy analysis including Tartir’s latest brief, “Can Oslo’s Failed Aid Model Be Laid to Rest?“, co-authored with Jeremy Wildeman.
Kerry, Quartet $4B Plan Will Fail Palestinians, Economists Warn
Featuring Al-Shabaka Program Director Alaa Tartir:
The 2013 Global Go To Think Tank Index (GGTTI)
Al-Shabaka achieved high standing in the 2013 “Global Go To Think Tank Index” (GGTTI) published this week by UPENN’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program!
BDS leaders say Palestinian human rights are compatible with Israeli Jewish future
Five policy advisors of Al-Shabaka, including its director, contribute brief but important statements in Alex Kane’s excellent summary on the perceived dilemma yet mutual non-exclusivity of Palestinian rights and an Israeli Jewish future. For example, Noura Erakat: “If you can’t have a state that privileges Jewish people, then what does the state become … For advocates of pluralism and equality, it becomes a better state, but for those who consider Jewish privilege a national right, notwithstanding the violence it necessitates, it is an affront.”
Thousands of Jerusalem children denied basic services by Israeli apartheid
This report on children’s rights in East Jerusalem cites an Al-Shabaka policy brief with reference to registration restrictions on Palestinian children that remain in place in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip despite the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.
Israel drills disputed West Bank oilfield with 3.5B barrels (Al-Shabaka policy brief cited)
“…Previously unavailable documents obtained from Britain’s Foreign Office by the Palestine Policy Network under the Freedom of Information Act ‘confirm there is potential for a Palestinian petroleum sector in the West Bank. Victor Kattan, program director of … Al-Shabaka, observed: ‘The documents reveal that, in addition, Israel may be exploiting an oil field located near Ramallah within the occupied Palestinian territories.The documents also point to the possible existence of two other oil fields near Qalqiliya and another near Hebron.'”
Peace is war: After the Oslo Accords
On the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad explains how the reframing of the concepts of peace and war were at the core of the Zionist strategy in colonising Palestine. His opening paragraphs trace the origins of the Oslo Accords citing original analysis by Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Osamah Khalil, who wrote “Oslo’s Roots: Kissinger, the PLO, and the Peace Process.” This article is the final of a two-part series.You can read part one here.
