Publication

This paper is drawn from an email discussion on Palestinian State-Building within the United Nations Development Program/Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP). It is argued that state-building and promoting an end to the occupation are not necessarily mutually exclusive goals—on the contrary they may be complementary approaches. While state institutions may be meaningless without real sovereignty, sovereignty is also hollow if institutions on the ground cannot exercise sovereignty. Efforts to support state-building in a meaningful and effective way must take into account the very real political dynamics at play and acknowledge that the room for maneuver is limited.