Palestinian Leadership in the Time of Pandemic
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Palestine brings back to focus central questions surrounding the resilience of Palestinian Authority leadership and the efficiency of its governance in times of crisis.
Marking the Nakba: From Betrayals and Warnings to Future Visions
To mark the 72nd year of the Nakba – the catastrophe when Zionist forces evicted the majority of Palestinians from their homes and lands, occupying 78% of Palestine – Al-Shabaka reissues this insightful compilation of essays by its engaged scholars and analysts. These timely pieces dissect the betrayal of Palestine, the struggle of the refugees, the warning signs during the decades of seeking Palestinian-Israeli peace without justice, and strategies for the future. They give us strength at a time of looming annexation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Reification of Ramallah: Undermining a Palestinian Capital in Jerusalem
While civil society organizations have highlighted tourism’s role in advancing Israeli land theft in the West Bank, few describe how Palestinian Authority (PA) investments can also undermine Palestinian calls for self-determination. Al-Shabaka’s 24418 analyzes how the PA’s governmental and cultural investments in Ramallah establish facts on the ground that obscure Palestinian claims to a capital in Jerusalem.
Palestine at the ICC: Prospects and Limitations
While the world remains fixated on the latest developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Palestine’s case at the International Criminal Court presses on.
In Palestine, COVID-19 Meets the Israeli Occupation
The West Bank and Gaza Strip are confronting COVID-19 from a reality of Israeli military occupation. Al-Shabaka Senior Palestine Policy Fellow 24588 analyzes the severe challenges this presents to Palestinians, Israel’s political manipulation of the virus, and the international community’s normalizing response – and how it should change.
Coronavirus in Palestine: Confronting the Vulnerability of Indigenous Bodies
The COVID-19 pandemic has reached Palestine, and in doing so has brought to the surface latent power structures that render Palestinians particularly exposed to the virus.
It’s Time to Reclaim UNRWA
With COVID-19 spreading in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and neighboring refugee camps, the consequences of the US’s defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees are even more dire. Al-Shabaka’s Randa Farah examines these challenges and outlines ways Palestinians can reclaim UNRWA and ultimately use it as a vehicle of empowerment and self-determination.
Radical Futures: When Palestinians Imagine
Settler colonial projects such as Israel seek to control perceptions of reality in order to bind Indigenous and colonized people in a seemingly perpetual state of being. Imagining a future beyond this state is thus a rebellious and radical act. Al-Shabaka’s 24588 explores the need for Palestinian imaginings of radical futures and highlights current examples of such work.
Palestine and U.S. Elections
The topic of Palestine is already proving to be divisive within the U.S. Democratic primaries, and it will undoubtedly remain a consistent question throughout the 2020 election season. Where do leading presidential candidates stand, and what role does civil society play in influencing shifts in political discourse and policy positions? Al-Shabaka analysts 24418 and Zaha Hassan weigh in on these questions and more in our Super Tuesday policy lab, hosted by Nur Arafeh.
