ICT: The Shackled Engine of Palestine’s Development

World attention has been focusing on the Palestinian revolt against Israel’s military occupation. Meanwhile, plans were reportedly still going ahead for an Israeli release of frequencies required for long-awaited 3G and even 4G systems and services. Al-Shabaka analysts Nur Arafeh, Wassim Abdullah, and Sam Bahour provide an incisive account of Israeli obstacles to the Palestinian sector’s development that have led to hundreds of millions in direct losses and lost opportunities.

81% of the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation rank the problem of corruption second only to the occupation itself. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Tariq Dana analyzes the systems and actors involved, arguing that corruption is a structural problem with longstanding political roots that cannot be tackled through adopting codes of conduct and other technical solutions.

Technical solutions shorn of political context have contributed to a failed state in Palestine and harmed the collective Palestinian struggle for freedom, transforming the Palestinian Authority into an NGO-like body.  Al-Shabaka Policy Member Ibrahim Shikaki and Guest Author Joanna Springer analyze the situation and suggest alternative approaches for the PA and the donor community. Read the policy brief or the executive summary.

Will the Palestinians be written out of history? There is a serious danger that this may happen, writes Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Jamil Hilal, who identifies five major misrepresentations of Palestinian history, geography and identity in the dominant discourse. He also discusses how Palestinians and their supporters must take hold of the way their story is told and reclaim their narrative.

The recent World Bank growth report frankly concludes that the Palestinian economy is fragile and dependent on foreign aid: No surprises there. Far more surprising – not to say shocking – are the Bank’s irrelevant and sometimes harmful recommendations, as Al-Shabaka Program Director Alaa Tartir and Guest Author Jeremy Wildeman reveal in this compelling analysis. The Bank’s prescriptions are all the more worrying given the influence it exercises over the donor community’s approach to Palestinian development.

Egypt now has a government more sympathetic to Hamas, the de facto government in the Gaza Strip. But Egyptian policy towards the Rafah Crossing still largely follows the parameters established by Israel for Palestinian passage -- and even when the Crossing is "open" thousands of Palestinians are not allowed through. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Laila El-Haddad provides a concise overview of how the Crossing has been managed and its impact on the Palestinian residents of Gaza.

Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Victor Kattan secured the release of new documents under the United Kingdom’s Freedom of Information Act. One revelation is that Israel may already be exploiting oil in the occupied Palestinian territories. As one official noted, this will make it even harder for Britain to justify aid for a land that could be self-reliant if it were free – further evidence of the need to push for an end to Israel’s occupation not pay for it.

The Egyptian-Israeli gas deal has come unstuck, partly due to the artificially low price Israel was paying for it. Will this help the Palestinians, whose gas fields off the coast of Gaza remain undeveloped and hostage to Israeli demands to be sold at ludicrously low prices?

In an important recent piece - Economic Hallucination - Ramallah-based Al-Shabaka policy advisor Sam Bahour exposed the charade played by both Western donors and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cover up the occupied territory’s inexorable economic meltdown after decades of Israeli military occupation. Arguing that the combined donor-PA approach poses major obstacles to freedom and rights, Bahour concluded: “It’s time for a new economic model, one built on economic justice, social welfare, solidarity, and sustainability.” What would such an economic model look like and how can Palestinians living under occupation move from today’s grim reality to an economy that sustains the quest for self-determination? Al-Shabaka policy advisors Alaa Tartir and Samer Abdelnour join Bahour to debate these questions and explore alternatives.