The experience of social protection in Palestine: An exploratory study of beneficiary perspectives

Abstract

Families in the Occupied Palestinian Territories face political and social problems that reinforce poverty and undermine well-being. Since the limited self-governance era, Palestinian National Authority implemented anti-poverty reforms, including national cash transfers; yet, little is known about how social assistance is perceived by beneficiaries. This exploratory study analyzed transcripts from interviews with Palestinian heads of households. Families were unclear about eligibility requirements and frustrated with funding changes. Cash transfers did not cover basic living requirements, forcing painful budget choices. Participants characterized social workers as generally effective but offered suggestions for program improvement. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Community social work in Palestine: from resilience to national resistance

“…In Palestine, as a colonised country, for the vast majority of Palestinian social workers, the first is the preferred option, especially when it comes to national liberation from Israeli colonial occupation. With the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in 1993, and with hundreds of social workers (directly or indirectly) engaged with the Ministry of Social Development (Easton et al, 2017), these two options became blurred for some years until it was realised that the Israeli colonial occupation still had the upper hand regardless of the Oslo divisions of the Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza (into A, B and C Zones) (Faraj, 2020). However, the key question is: which form of social work, that is, mainstream or popular, would be more appealing to the national liberation agenda?…”

“…The second group includes those who are officially registered through the PNA/Ministry of Interior (MoI) (as a requirement), focus on depoliticised community development activitiespure humanitarian vision -and have no objection to receiving conditional funding. The first and second groups are part of those who promote what Hamdan (2010) and Nakhleh (2011) call 'the culture of acceptance of occupiers in the minds of new generations' (see also MAS, 2012;Duffy et al, 2019). The third group is those who are registered through PNA/MoI (as a requirement) but who are not on good terms with the PNA security apparatus because they are opponents of the Oslo project, fight the conditional funding of international donors and have a clear political stance in relation to the colonial project in Palestine.…”