Name: Can the Palestinian Authority balance reforms with liberation goals?
Uploaded: 2025-11-19T08:45:07.617Z
Duration: 2 min 2 s
Description: PA reforms tied to UN and donor demands, but Palestinians feel excluded as calls for statehood, leadership change & liberation clash.

PA reforms tied to UN and donor demands, but Palestinians feel excluded as calls for statehood, leadership change & liberation clash.

Jerusalem

International actors have made reforms a prerequisite for the Palestinian Authority to take on responsibilities in Gaza and move toward statehood, as outlined in a recent Security Council resolution. However, the exact nature of these reforms remains undefined and is subject to differing interpretations by stakeholders such as the Israeli government and major donors like the European Union.

While the Israeli government rejects Palestinian statehood, it demands recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and action against Palestinian factions. Donors have called for specific reforms, including changes to textbooks, ending social welfare for families of prisoners, combating corruption, and holding elections. Despite these external pressures, many Palestinians remain dissatisfied with their leadership and prioritize national liberation over externally imposed reforms.

Can the Palestinian Authority balance reforms with liberation goals?

Reforms are a key condition of the Security Council resolution on Gaza, which says that the Palestinian Authority can only assume its responsibilities in Gaza or open a pathway to statehood and self-determination if it implements all of the demanded reforms. But these demands are not defined. In fact, they mean different things to different actors. The Israeli government rejects the notion of Palestinian statehood outright, but still wants the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to combat Palestinian factions. The very connection between reforms and the right of Palestinians of the state is gaslighting, because there is no reason that makes this dependent on one or the other. Major donors of the Palestinian Authority, particularly the European Union, agree on a list of specific reform demands, like reforming textbooks, ending social welfare to families of Palestinian prisoners, fighting corruption, and working to hold elections. Absent from the conversation are Palestinians and what they want to see their government reform. Palestinians are deeply unsatisfied with their political leadership. Most want elections, but an equal number don't believe those elections will happen. For Palestinians, the main goal is national liberation. So we should ask whether those reforms are in line with a pathway for national liberation, or if they are to reshape the PA for a new status quo being drafted by the Trump administration and the Israeli government. In the coming months, Palestinians will have to deal with two competing needs, conditional agency and urgent humanitarian needs. One will come before the other.

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