International aid to the Palestinian Authority is conditioned in part on democratization and good governance. However, since Hamas's victory in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections and its takeover of the Gaza Strip, aid agencies have supported the international boycott of the Hamas government. This article argues that aid agencies, by operating in Gaza while boycotting its government, subvert their mandates and serve the political interests of donors and the PA rather than the humanitarian and development needs of Gazans. As a consequence, assistance has, inadvertently and unintentionally, increased Gazans' dependence on humanitarian aid, impeded economic development, and enabled Israel to maintain its occupation and the blockade of Gaza.
The Politics of International Aid to the Gaza Strip Available to Purchase
Tamer Qarmout, a Gaza native,formerly worked with the United Nations Development Programme in the Gaza Strip and is a PhD student in the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan.
Daniel Béland is Canada Research Chair in Public Policy at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. The authors thank Michael Atkinson, Julie Kaye, Angela Kempf, Samy Qarmout, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments. They also thank the interviewees for their time and insight. Daniel Béland acknowledges support from the Canada Research Chairs Program.
Tamer Qarmout, Daniel Béland; The Politics of International Aid to the Gaza Strip. Journal of Palestine Studies 1 July 2012; 41 (4): 32–47. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2012.XLI.4.32
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University of California Press