We Deal with Symptoms Rather Than Causes: Challenges in Formulating Anti-Poverty Policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Background and Purpose

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) assumed limited self-governance of Palestine in 1994. Various social problems affect quality of life including high rates of poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity.  Anti-poverty reforms implemented (e.g. Social Safety Net Reform Project of 2005, Cash Transfer Program of 2010) to combat these persistent social problems have had limited success.  Scarce empirical research has investigated the obstacles policymakers face in developing and implementing such reforms.  Guided by a social protection framework in the context of fragile states, the purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the obstacles, challenges, and limitations in the policymaking environment that impede anti-poverty policy development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

 

Methods

Based on a social constructivist paradigm of inquiry, we employed a qualitative case-study design.  With cooperation from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development, data were collected through semi-structured, in depth interviews with sixteen Palestinian ministry officials in Summer 2010.  Archival materials and administrative records (e.g., Cash Transfer Strategy, Social Protection Plan, ministry’s goals and mission, list of departments, and organizational structure) were also collected and reviewed to supplement interview data.  Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated from Arabic to English by a nationally-certified Arabic instructor with extensive translation experience.  To develop an accurate interpretation of the data, our analyses relied on both within-participant and across-participants approaches.  Researchers met regularly over a six month period to compare and discuss emergent codes and categories. 

 

Results 

Findings revealed a restrictive environment replete with multiple levels of obstacles that severely constrain efforts to develop high quality, anti-poverty policies for meeting needs of Palestinian citizens.  Some limitations such as funding uncertainties and lack of data are similar to those experienced in other emerging nations or fragile states (e.g., Afghanistan, Nepal, and Somalia).  Similar to other contexts, funding from international sources such as the World Bank, European Union, and the World Food Program is limited, full of conditions, and tenuous, leaving many impoverished Palestinian families without support.  However, several limitations were unique to the economic and political context of Palestine (e.g., political instability, Israeli military occupation) and the Palestinian government itself (e.g., dominance of national political concerns, divisions between political parties).  For example, divisions between the two political parties (i.e., Hamas and Fatah) have negatively affect the work and performance of PNA and its ministries.  

 

Conclusions and Implications

Taken together, these limitations,  along with continued political instability and military occupation, severely undermine the development and sustained implementation of anti-poverty policies in OPT.  This further marginalizes Palestinians living in poverty, and maintains structural inequalities and injustice in OPT.  Implications include the need of PNA to: a) limit dependence on external anti-poverty funding, b) establish a stable, independent, and sovereign political system, and c) collect reliable, high-quality data on issues surrounding poverty in Palestine.