While the Oslo Accords did not lead to Palestinian independence, the establishment in 1994 of a Palestinian National Authority generated social processes that transformed Palestinian society in the OPT. In the absence of sovereignty and territorial continuity, and in the face of the perpetuation of Israeli military control and critical dependence on international donor assistance, the PNA could not have possibly turned the economic structure that persisted throughout the preceding epoch over its head. However, the formation of a government public sector and its emergence as prime employer, and the massive investment in the development of secondary and higher education considerably altered educational and occupational attributes of the population within a short time and opened channels for upper social mobility, which were hitherto denied to the residents of the OPT. The formation of a public sector created a new category of government employees, comprising members of the security forces, professionals, bureaucrats, and clerks. They were recruited from two major pools: graduates of the fast-growing system of higher education and leaders from the OPT-based wing of the national movement, predominantly former political prisoners. These employees became the backbone of a nascent middle class. Indeed, the focus is on a new middle class because the conditions necessary for the realization of such class transformation did not exist in the first 27 years of the Israeli occupation, when a systematic policy of dispossession, non-development of infrastructure and social services, and denial of civil and political rights all but blocked possibilities for upper mobility. However, the consolidation and further expansion of the emergent middle class were critically affected in the wake of Israel’s total retreat – ever since the collapse of the Oslo scheme in 2000 - from its onetime commitment to end the occupation, and the array of measures it implemented to thwart the feasibility of Palestinian statehood. My paper examines the contribution of the PNA to the emergence of a new middle class by focusing on major channels for upper mobility it advanced and assessing its changing capacity to maintain them over two distinct political eras: the Oslo years and the post-Oslo era up to 2017. It is based on findings from two research projects that engaged me over the past 15 years: a study of the expansion of higher education and the employment situation of university graduates in the OPT, and a socio-historical study on the movement of Palestinian political prisoners.

Contributions of Palestinian women have often been ignored or understated in Middle East peace processes over past decades. Women with positions as members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) have, at times, been marginalized and excluded from contributing constructively to international peace negotiations. Women who have served in political positions in Palestine, past and present, will be interviewed to better understand their contributions as political actors and, specifically, the expectation of their roles in the mitigation of conflict, minimizing regional violence and escalations, and their contributions toward ending violence during times of war. While active members of the PA for decades, women’s contributions have often been impeded and progress limited because of their marginalization and exclusion. This paper will answer several questions, including but not limited to: What contributions have Palestinian women made as active members of the PA and its efforts in negotiations and political prospects toward peace? How much more effective might peace negotiations have been had women not been marginalized? For example, while Dr. Hanan Ashrawi served as the official spokesperson during the Madrid Peace Process, she was later excluded from the Oslo Peace Process. What are the consequences of her exclusion? This paper looks at the historical role of a few key women in past negotiations and where women might constructively engage today. What role do women play today in activism and advocacy, calling for justice, and an end to oppression? How are women working to bring an end to the atrocities in Gaza - working to bring an end to Israel’s bombing campaign and the mass killing of Palestinian civilians that began in October 2023? Background research uses methodologies of analyzing historical literature, personal communications, and narratives from qualitative interviews and public communications. This article investigates first-hand accounts of Palestinian women who witnessed and participated in key conversations, negotiations, peace processes, and advocacy actions. Suppose the assumption that women have a constructive role in political engagement, peace processes, and ending violence and war is true. In that case, then the marginalization and exclusion of women must be brought to an end for negotiations to move forward more effectively. If assumptions are not true, that would inherently change the assertion that all members of Palestinian society - including women – should be more engaged politically and are critical members around the table contributing toward peace.

This paper critically examines the typology of public revenues within the Palestinian Authority (PA) to elucidate the complexities of fiscal management in a colonial context. By utilising a framework of fiscal theories of governance, the analysis offers a nuanced understanding of the dynamics governing taxation, public revenue generation, and service provision in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The study highlights how external dependencies, Israeli tax control measures, and a fragmented network of service providers collectively undermine the PA's ability to forge a stable fiscal contract. This scenario is further complicated by declining international aid, necessitating a greater reliance on domestic tax mobilisation. The paper argues that these challenges are symptomatic of broader issues in revenue mobilisation under a colonial setting and the emergence of non-state actors in governance roles. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper comprehension of the PA's fiscal operations within Israeli colonial structures and offers critical insights into its politics of taxation and revenue mobilisation.

The education system for Palestinian lives in East Jerusalem -Israel offers a window into the complex reality of everyday life for residents living under the ongoing conflict. The basic right to education is intact, but the system suffers from problems, budgets, discrimination, and censorship This study examined the Authority textbooks for the Palestinians in East Jerusalem, their foci, and the processes that they underwent over the years. When examining textbook compilation and especially History textbooks, in the Palestinian Authority which are studied in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, one sees an effort for the construction of a Palestinian national identity for the people of the Palestinian Authority (or Palestine), alongside the maintenance of the Palestinian people's collective identity through this important vessel – school textbooks. These textbooks do not only attempt to portray historical events, but they also shape the collective Palestinian memory in Israel and Palestine. Textbooks hold a special place in pedagogic theory. In previous studies of textbook analysis, they represent the historical narrative that students learn – their own as well as of others. The decision to define some groups’ knowledge as the most legitimate or official knowledge, while other groups’ knowledge hardly sees the light of day, stems from who has power in society. This study examined history curricula and textbooks published by the Palestinian National Authority from 2000 until today, these books are also used in East Jerusalem for the Palestinian residents. While the Palestinian Authority is officially responsible for the curricula in East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities are acting to minimize the influence of any content, which has Palestinian national value by employing censorship For Textbooks for Palestinian published by the Ministry of Education in Israel. The study presents the government’s control over education and its control over curricula and content. The study followed an analytical approach – involving analysis of the content of the books and of the documents and resources of the Ministries of Education, interviews with people in the Ministries responsible for directing policy and supervising the preparation of the history textbooks, and of other literature that has dealt with this subject. The findings of this study show that textbooks portray the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through distinct and contrasting Palestinian and Israeli perspectives. Moreover, they underscore how textbooks and curricula serve as instruments of power wielded by both authorities to assert control and shape narratives.

In recent years, a significant number of research studies on the Palestinian issue have revealed the fragmentation of the Palestinian political landscape: "Fragmented Palestine" (Picaudou, 1997), "Everyday Palestines" (Legrain, 1999), "The fragmented mosaic" (Dot-Pouillard, 2016), "The fragmentation of the national political field" (Hilal, 2019). This fragmentation of the Palestinian political sphere has been accompanied by particular attention in scientific studies to post-Oslo political developments, now focused, after the signing of the accords, on the new political dynamics of the interim period: the creation and evolution of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the "return" to the Palestinian Territories of the national movement's cadres installed in Tunis, and the negotiation process. Also, with Oslo, the study of the Palestinian national movement is less about the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and more about the PA and all the dynamics related to the recompositions of the Palestinian political sphere post-Oslo. However, one point from this literature has remained overlooked, that of the political developments of Fatah, a faction that is the majority within the PLO and at the helm of the PA, holding power, inheriting a revolutionary and militant tradition that has carried nationalist aspirations for nearly half a century, yet curiously left completely on the sidelines of studies on Palestinian factionalism, probably because it has remained overshadowed by the multiple studies on the PA, whose institutional curiosity (neither a state structure nor a revolutionary structure) has overshadowed research on the party in power itself. Scientific research has not, however, lost interest in studies on factionalism but has favored those on Islamist movements Yet, Fatah is at the heart of power struggles and remains central in Palestinian politics. However, in the absence of tangible results on the ground from international negotiation and in the absence of tangible political gains, its political strategy, which combines security cooperation with Israel and the pursuit of international recognition, is at an impasse. Worse still, for a large portion of Palestinians, this strategy borders on collaboration. While governing de facto without power - its authority applies almost nowhere in the Palestinian Territories - and without electoral legitimacy - elections have been indefinitely postponed for several years - Fatah has also become entrenched in an authoritarian logic in which opponents are suppressed, and means of dissent are stifled.