The US invasion of Iraq succeeded in toppling the Baathist regime of President Saddam Hussein, but 20 years on, it clearly failed to achieve its proclaimed goal of bringing freedom, security, democracy, and prosperity to Iraq and its people. Rather, it created a whole new set of … Continue reading Why Iraqis are still searching for a ‘homeland’ 20 years after US invasion
As of 2023, Mahmoud Abbas surpasses his democratic mandate as president of the Palestinian Authority by 14 years. And as speculation mounts about his successor, the question of his legacy lingers. In a new Al-Shabaka roundtable, policy analysts Tareq Baconi, Yara Hawari, Alaa Tartir, and Tariq Kenney-Shawa reflect on Abbas’s … Continue reading The Legacy of Mahmoud Abbas
What does the future hold for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza? Al-Shabaka is proud to release a groundbreaking analytical project, The Al-Shabaka Scenario Matrix, an interactive tool that invites readers to engage with five future political scenarios for the West Bank and Gaza, detailing each scenario’s impact on four distinct … Continue reading Scenario Matrix: Possibilities for the West Bank and Gaza
Regardless of the PLO’s current semidormant status, it is still the body closest to Palestinian communities at home and in the diaspora. The only way out of the current political dead end is for Palestinians to revive and build their … Continue reading Why Palestinians Need to Reclaim the PLO
How can the PLO maintain accountability as both a national liberation movement and governing body? How might Hamas and Islamic Jihad be integrated after decades of exclusion? What models of Palestinian youth leadership can be further developed? Al-Shabaka analysts address … Continue reading Reclaiming The PLO, Re-Engaging Youth
The Palestinian political leadership’s obsession with the idea of statehood as a means to realise self-determination and freedom has proved to be detrimental to the struggle of decolonising Palestine. By prioritising “statehood under colonialism” instead of focusing on decolonising Palestine … Continue reading “What is a State without the People?”: Statehood Obsession and Denial of Rights in Palestine
ثمّة حاجة ملحّة إلى نقاش وجدل جدّيين، لإعادة تصور نظام السياسة والحكم الفلسطينيين، فثقافة الجدل هي جزء من التجديد، وإحدى الأدوات المهمة للخروج من الأزمات والانسدادات. وعليه، يرتبط تجديد الفكر السياسي الفلسطيني ارتباطاً وثيقاً بتحقيق الحرية وتقرير المصير، ولن نقترب … Continue reading نحو نظام سياسي فلسطيني تشاركي
Three things could help to build an inclusive and participatory political system, which could empower Palestinians in their journey towards self-determination, statehood and meaningful democracy. Firstly, the one-man leadership model should be replaced with a collective form of leadership. The … Continue reading Why Palestinians Must Rethink their Governance
This book explores how the rule of power relates to the case of occupied Palestine, examining features of local dissent and international governance. The project considers expressions of the rule of power in two particular ways: settler colonialism and neoliberalism. … Continue reading Palestine and Rule of Power: Local Dissent vs. International Governance
This article provides a contextual analysis of the evolution and reform processes of Palestinian security forces over the last two decades. It categorises the evolution of security reform processes into three phases: the Oslo Accords phase; the Second Intifada phase; … Continue reading The Evolution and Reform of Palestinian Security Forces 1993-2013
This paper-based thesis consists of five interlinked chapters/articles that explore dimensions of both the style of governance and the state-building endeavour in the West Bank in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, primarily between 2007 and 2013. This governance and state-building project … Continue reading Criminalising Resistance, Entrenching Neoliberalism: The Fayyadist Paradigm in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank
Alaa Tartir, Program Director of Al-Shabaka, Engaged Scholar, Global Citizen 