مقال - التركيز على: رؤى للمستقبل السياسي

A sovereign Palestinian state is today perhaps further from reality than ever before. Indeed, 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 Palestinian nation-state is arguably defunct. 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 this Focus On, Al-Shabaka’s policy analysts imagine Palestinian political futures within the context of historical and ongoing realities. Among other topics, they revisit the history of popular committees and consensus-building efforts during the First Intifada to show how local Palestinian governance might be strengthened, and how we might rethink the meaning of self-determination from the grassroots. They consider how various aspects of Palestinian society, including health, education, and policing, could be transformed to help sustain a new political vision for liberation, and revive popular engagement in colonized Palestine and beyond. And they examine the different means through which Palestinians can utilize international legal avenues to strategize an effective anti-apartheid movement. 

One State, Two States, and Beyond

Palestine Beyond Partition and the Nation-State

Leila Farsakh

How might we rethink the idea of Palestinian self-determination outside of the frameworks of nation-statehood and territorial sovereignty? In this interview, policy analyst Leila Farsakh argues that Palestinians should relinquish the partition paradigm and advocate for a one-state future on the basis of equal citizenship. Read more…

Beyond Failed Frameworks: A Re-Imagined Collective Future

Yara Hawari 

Given the failure of the two-state solution, how have Palestinians crafted new collective strategies to achieve liberation? Senior Analyst Yara Hawari examines past efforts by Palestinians to push beyond the boundaries of partition, and points to consensus-building as the first step in the path towards a just political future. Read more…

Radical Futures: When Palestinians Imagine 

Yara Hawari

To imagine a future beyond Israeli settler colonialism – which works to create “facts on the ground” and normalize Palestinian dispossession – is an inherently radical act. Senior Analyst Yara Hawari shows how Palestinians have begun this difficult but necessary work. Read more…

Palestine Post-Oslo: Moving to a Just Future

Amal Ahmad, Sam Bahour

On the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, policy analysts Amal Ahmad and Sam Bahour join Al-Shabaka honorary president Nadia Hijab to discuss how the agreement has affected the Palestinian national project, and to offer their visions for new political futures. Read more…

Palestinian Succession: Crisis or Opportunity?

Leila Farsakh, Ahmad Khalidi

With the two-state solution increasingly obsolete, policy analysts Leila Farsakh and Ahmad Khalidi discuss the realities of succession in Palestinian leadership in the context of the fast-changing Palestinian street. What opportunities do Palestinians have in forging a political future outside of their corrupt leadership? Read more…

Beyond the Binary: Two States, One State, Failed State, No State 

Amal Ahmad

While many have abandoned the quest for a sovereign Palestinian state, policy analyst Amal Ahmad contends that other political configurations are much more likely than a single, democratic state across colonized Palestine, particularly in the near future. Read more…

Alternative Forms of Political and Social Organizing 

The Case for Palestinian Nationality

Nadim Bawalsa

In this policy brief, Nadim Bawalsa examines the historical and legal foundations of Palestinian nationality. He argues that Palestinians and their representatives across the diaspora must come together and stake claims to their rights to Palestinian nationality as a way to safeguard their legal connections to Palestine. Read more…

Defying Fragmentation and the Significance of Unity: A New Palestinian Uprising

Yara Hawari 

The 2021 Unity Intifada reaffirmed that Palestinians everywhere share a common struggle. Despite the failures of the Palestinian leadership, as Senior Analyst Yara Hawari shows, Palestinians still possess an enormous potential for widespread grassroots political mobilization. Read more…

Reimagining Liberation through the Popular Committees

Layth Hanbali 

In this policy brief, policy analyst Layth Hanbali investigates the history of popular committees in the West Bank and Gaza during the 1970s and 1980s. He shows how they can offer a model to reinvigorate local governance and build a new, popular political movement from the grassroots. Read more…

Community Accountability in Palestine: An Alternative to Policing

Yara Hawari

Any vision for Palestinian political liberation must address the reality of violent policing and mass incarceration that Palestinians face across colonized Palestine. Senior Analyst Yara Hawari explores the concept of community accountability as a way to promote reconciliation and counter social fragmentation within Palestinian society. Read more…

A Vision for Liberation: Palestinian-led Development in Health and Education

Yara Asi

How can the Palestinian health and education sectors be transformed to align with and advance political visions for Palestinian liberation? Policy analyst Yara Asi offers her recommendations, based on interviews with a diverse group of Palestinians across colonized Palestine and the diaspora. Read more…

International Law and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Movement

Rania Muhareb

How can Palestinians employ international law to lay the foundations of an effective anti-apartheid movement outside of their leadership? Policy analyst Rania Muhareb offers recommendations for how Palestinians and their allies should harness international laws to strategize a political anti-apartheid movement. Read more…

Dr. Yara M. Asi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. Her research...
Yara Hawari is Al-Shabaka's co-director. She previously served as the Palestine policy fellow and senior analyst. Yara completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at...
Sam Bahour resides in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine. He does business consulting as Applied Information Management (AIM), specializing in business development with a niche focus on the...
Rania Muhareb is an Irish Research Council and Hardiman PhD Scholar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway....
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...
Layth Hanbali is a freelance consultant focusing on health policy. He has also worked as a researcher, public health practitioner, and doctor, volunteered as a...
Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Leila Farsakh, is Associate Professor and Chair of the political science department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is the author of Palestinian Labor...
Amal Ahmad is a Palestinian economic researcher. Amal interned at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute in Ramallah before completing a Master’s degree in development...
Ahmad Samih Khalidi is Associate Fellow at the Center for Security Policy, Geneva, and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Palestine Studies, Beirut. A Palestinian...

Latest Analysis

 Politics
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have brutally murdered over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, injured 100,000, and displaced nearly all of the occupied area’s population. In that same time, the Israeli regime has embarked on the largest invasion of the West Bank since the Second Intifada, resulting in over 600 Palestinians killed and 10,900 detained. Israel has likewise expanded its genocidal assault into Lebanon, killing well over 1,000 people and displacing more than one million. This Focus On highlights how Al-Shabaka has sought to respond to these developments over the past year. From grounding October 7th in the broader context of Israeli settler colonialism, to interrogating Israel's multifaceted war machine, to assessing rapidly evolving regional relations, this compilation of works represents Al-Shabaka's ongoing effort to articulate the Palestinian condition in real time.
 Politics
UK arms companies have long profited from selling weapons to Israel, with licenses issued from the British government. Since 2008, these exports have totaled an estimated $740 million, continuing even amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Following the Labour Party's July 2024 election victory, which promised alignment with international law, some were cautiously optimistic that an arms embargo would be forthcoming. In September 2024, the British government suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel. Activists and human rights groups argue that this is far too limited. Accordingly, this policy memo details Britain's international legal obligations and potential governmental maneuvers regarding arms sales to Israel.
Shahd Hammouri· Sep 15, 2024
 Civil Society
In their struggle against Zionist settler colonialism, Palestinians have long worked towards establishing a resistance economy. Today, food sovereignty constitutes a natural continuation of this process, building upon the principles of agricultural self-sufficiency practiced throughout the history of the Palestinian revolution. In this policy brief, Fathi Nimer traces the origins of food sovereignty and the challenges Palestinians face today to effectively put the framework into practice. He argues that doing so will help better recontextualize the resistance economy and help pave the way for a more contentious economic order.
Al-Shabaka Fathi Nimer
Fathi Nimer· Aug 27, 2024
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