“We Deal With Symptoms Rather Than Causes”: Antipoverty Policy Making in Occupied Palestinian Territories

ABSTRACT

Since the Palestinian National Authority assumed governance, antipoverty reforms implemented to combat social problems and traumatic stressors have had limited success. Few empirical studies have investigated policy-making obstacles in this context. Using a social protection framework, this study examined the policy-making environment in Occupied Palestinian Territories. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with Palestinian ministry officials and archival records. Findings revealed a restrictive, obstacle-ridden environment that severely constrains development of high-quality policies for meeting needs of Palestinian citizens. Some limitations were similar to those in other emerging nations; others were unique to the case of Palestine. Policy and research implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Israeli occupation
• occupied Palestinian territories
• Palestine/West Bank
• poverty
• social protection

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge staff members of the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development (formerly Ministry of Social Affairs) and Ministry of Planning who facilitated data collection. The authors are grateful to participants for sharing their time, knowledge and experience.

Additional information

Funding

Generous financial support was received from the Palestinian Faculty Development Program and its sponsors, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Open Society Institute, and AMIDEAST.

Notes on contributors

Scott D. Easton

Scott D. Easton, PhD, ACSW, LMSW, is Associate Professor and Chair of Mental Health at Boston College School of Social Work. As a federally funded scholar, he has published in leading journals within two programs of research: (a) long-term mental health of survivors of early life trauma (e.g., child sexual abuse), and (b) social protection policy making in the Middle East.

Najwa Sado Safadi

Najwa Sado Safadi, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine and Visiting Fellow at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Behavioral Science (SBS), Doha, Qatar. Her research interests are poverty and social policy with an emphasis on antipoverty policies, international aid, government performance, civic engagement, and social welfare, in the Global South countries.

Robert G. Hasson

Robert G. Hasson III, LICSW, is a doctoral student at the Boston College School of Social Work. His research focuses on the intersection of children welfare and immigration, with a focus on the development of clinical interventions and policies to serve child and adolescent survivors of trauma (e.g., family separation, forced migration).