Palestine: history, government, and society

Palestine is diplomatically influential but institutionally fragmented: the State of Palestine is recognized by a large majority of UN member states and holds UN non-member observer state status, yet it does not control all the territory it claims and its politics remain split between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza despite repeated unity efforts [United Nations](https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-question-of-palestine-and-the-united-nations/) [CIA World Factbook](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gaza-strip/) [CIA World Factbook](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/). Formally, it operates under the Palestinian Basic Law with a semi-presidential design, but in practice power is concentrated in the presidency and in the Palestinian Authority’s security and administrative institutions because national elections have not been held since 2006 for the legislature and 2005 for the presidency [The Palestinian Basic Law](https://www.elections.ps/Portals/0/pdf/The%20Palestinian%20Basic%20Law%20amended%202005_EN.pdf) [International IDEA](https://www.idea.int/data-tools/country-view/254/40).

Mahmoud Abbas remains President of the State of Palestine and President of the Palestinian Authority, while Mohammad Mustafa was appointed prime minister in March 2024 to head a technocratic government tasked with reform, reconstruction planning, and external coordination [Palestinian Presidency](http://president.ps/eng/) [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-president-abbas-appoints-mohammad-mustafa-new-prime-minister-2024-03-14/) [Prime Minister's Office - State of Palestine](https://www.palestinecabinet.gov.ps/website/). Fatah is still the dominant force inside the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which remains the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people, but it governs without a fresh electoral mandate and in constant rivalry with Hamas, which won the 2006 legislative election and retains armed and political influence centered in Gaza [PLO](https://www.plo.ps/en/Article/17290/Palestine-Liberation-Organization-PLO) [Election Commission Palestine](https://www.elections.ps/tabid/210/language/en-US/Default.aspx) [Council on Foreign Relations](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hamas).

Palestine’s place in the world is defined by asymmetry. It has joined major international bodies and treaties, including UNESCO and the International Criminal Court, and in May 2024 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing that Palestine is qualified for membership and recommending the Security Council reconsider the matter, though full UN membership still requires Council approval that the United States has blocked [UNESCO](https://www.unesco.org/en/member-states/palestine) [International Criminal Court](https://www.icc-cpi.int/palestine) [UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/23](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4047178?ln=en) [UN News](https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148876). That combination gives Palestine real diplomatic reach in multilateral forums, especially on legal accountability and humanitarian questions, but limited coercive power on the ground because borders, airspace, movement, tax clearance, and much of security are shaped by Israel’s control and by donor leverage over the Palestinian Authority’s finances [World Bank](https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/westbankandgaza/publication/economic-monitoring-report-to-the-ad-hoc-liaison-committee) [UN OCHA](https://www.ochaopt.org/).

Economically, Palestine is small, aid-dependent, and structurally constrained. GDP was about $17.4 billion in 2023 for the West Bank and Gaza together according to the World Bank, while unemployment, poverty, and fiscal crisis worsened sharply after the Gaza war and related restrictions, with the Palestinian Authority also squeezed by Israel’s withholding or partial transfer of clearance revenues that normally make up the majority of its public income [World Bank Data](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=PS) [World Bank](https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/westbankandgaza/publication/economic-monitoring-report-to-the-ad-hoc-liaison-committee) [IMF](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/09/11/pr24328-west-bank-and-gaza-imf-staff-concluding-statement). Services dominate output, public employment is politically important, and trade, labor access, electricity, fuel, and telecommunications all depend heavily on external permissions and infrastructure links that Palestinians do not fully control [UNCTAD](https://unctad.org/publication/report-unctad-assistance-palestinian-people-developments-economy-occupied-palestinian) [World Bank](https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/westbankandgaza). For delegates, the key point is that economic policy in Palestine is inseparable from occupation, movement restrictions, war damage, and the survival of the PA itself.

Three issues define Palestine’s current trajectory. The first is governance legitimacy: Abbas is still in office years beyond his original electoral term, institutions are divided, and any succession or reform process will shape whether the PA can remain the accepted Palestinian interlocutor internationally [International IDEA](https://www.idea.int/data-tools/country-view/254/40) [Carnegie Middle East Center](https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2024/03/what-the-new-palestinian-government-can-and-cannot-do?lang=en). The second is Gaza’s postwar future, including who governs it, whether Hamas retains arms or political authority, and whether reconstruction can proceed under a credible Palestinian and international framework [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/) [UN OCHA](https://www.ochaopt.org/) [International Crisis Group](https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine). The third is statehood strategy: Palestine is gaining diplomatic support in the UN and other forums, but the gap between symbolic recognition and sovereign control remains the central fact shaping its foreign policy, economy, and internal politics [United Nations](https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-question-of-palestine-and-the-united-nations/) [ICJ](https://www.icj-cij.org/case/186) [UN News](https://news.un.org/en/story