{"id":9315,"date":"2018-09-20T15:34:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T12:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/?p=9315"},"modified":"2018-09-25T15:40:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T12:40:38","slug":"could-washington-dismantle-unrwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><em>The Trump administration has a deeper and darker agenda than simply reviving peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">On August 31, the Trump administration announced that it was suspending all financial support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2016, the US provided\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-45381173\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$368 million<\/a>\u00a0to UNRWA, meaning the agency has now been deprived of a third of its budget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">This marks a new catastrophic chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is yet another example of Israel and the US imposing \u201cfacts on the ground\u201d to put an end to the Palestinian cause, especially when it comes to the status of Jerusalem and refugees. The drying up of UNRWA\u2019s funds is a means to an end for Washington and Tel Aviv.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Some observers believe that America\u2019s financial aid to UNRWA is a bribe to keep Palestinians dependent on international organizations. That is why the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairobserver.com\/?s=european+union\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Union<\/a>\u00a0is preparing to seek alternative funds for UNRWA, pointing out in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eeas.europa.eu\/headquarters\/headquarters-homepage_en\/49983\/Statement%20by%20the%20Spokesperson%20on%20UNRWA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>\u00a0that the UN agency is \u201cvital for stability and security\u201d in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The Trump administration uses aid as a weapon. US officials have not hidden the fact that they want to have influence over the Palestinians and force them to accept the long-waited peace plan promised by President\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairobserver.com\/category\/world-leaders-news\/donald-trump-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>THE TRUMP PLAN<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Behind these actions lies a deeper and darker agenda than the simple revival of failed negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. For the past 25 years, peace talks have provided cover for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairobserver.com\/?s=israel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israel<\/a>\u2018s gradual takeover of what was supposed to be a future Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as the capital. The Trump administration, however, has engineered a \u201cpeace process\u201d based on a de facto situation created by Israel on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">This has been done by targeting final status issues such as borders, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees for the benefit of the stronger side: Israel. The only obstacle is to find a way to put pressure on\u00a0the Palestinians to accept a peace deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Israel has already moved its borders through multiple wars, evictions of Palestinians from their homes and the building of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. Since the wars of 1948 and 1967, Israel has been working to seize the rest of Palestinian territory, leaving little space in the West Bank due to settlements, while Gaza has been turned into a ghetto on a small coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">In December 2017, the US declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and then moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018, despite uproar from the Palestinians and the international community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The third goal for the Trump administration is to end the right of return for Palestinian refugees. On September 4, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that stopping UNRWA funding means the US has \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Arab-Israeli-Conflict\/Friedman-Trump-has-slayed-sacred-cows-566520\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">slayed the sacred cow<\/a>,\u201d in reference to aid for refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Over the course of peace talks, Israel has agreed to a symbolic return of a few thousand Palestinian refugees to what is today part of Israel and the return of other refugees to the future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. But if Israel refuses to recognize Palestine as a country, it will never allow refugees from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to move to the West Bank and Gaza and become citizens of a Palestinian state.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>DISMANTLE UNRWA<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Israel and the US have an alternative solution, preferring to dismantle UNRWA and brush aside Palestinians in the growing tide of refugees caused by conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. Washington and Tel Aviv want Palestinian refugees to be under the responsibility of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), or better placed under the responsibility of their host countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">In August,\u00a0<em>Foreign Policy\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2018\/08\/03\/trump-palestinians-israel-refugees-unrwaand-allies-seek-end-to-refugee-status-for-millions-of-palestinians-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa-israel-palestine-peace-plan-jared-kushner-greenb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>\u00a0that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump and his senior adviser, has been working to \u201cdo away\u201d with UNRWA. The main aim in suspending the UN agency is to strip millions of Palestinians of their status as refugees. In doing so, these refugees would have to seek permanent resettlement in their host countries in return for substantial compensation for these nations. When UNRWA\u2019s mandate is due to run out in two years, it seems certain that Washington will try to prevent its renewal. The mandate of UNRWA was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unispal.un.org\/DPA\/DPR\/unispal.nsf\/0\/797F0E0CFA8B859C8525809E006BE2A5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last renewed<\/a>\u00a0by the UN General Assembly in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">For the US and Israel, it\u2019s simple: If there is no UNRWA, there is no problem of Palestinian refugees. If there are no refugees, there is no right of return and there will be less pressure for the establishment of a Palestinian state. This indicates that UNRWA and refugees have been used politically to change the form of solutions to the Palestinian issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>PALESTINIAN DIVISION<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">For Palestinians, a sense of anxiety and anger reigns over the people and their leadership following the US move to stop funding UNRWA. Refugees are clearly worried about the impact on their living conditions in camps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Trump\u2019s decision is tantamount to creating a financial and political crisis aimed at eliminating UNRWA, which is the main part of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unispal.un.org\/DPA\/DPR\/unispal.nsf\/0\/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UN Resolution 194<\/a>\u00a0that calls for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes that were lost in 1948. Considering the return of all refugees is unlikely, UNRWA is realistically the only remaining element of the resolution. This is why the Americans and Israelis want to abolish UNRWA and undermine the Palestinian cause.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Meanwhile, the Arab League condemned the US decision to stop the financing of UNRWA \u2014 which was formed by a UN resolution that represents the position of the international community \u2014 and considered the move to be contrary to international law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The US decision has come under Palestinian division and faltering efforts at reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. It also occurred when Hamas announced that it favors a truce with the occupation in place, rather than going ahead with Palestinian reconciliation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">This may push some Palestinian factions to accept humanitarian solutions in accordance with the Trump plan. This would probably require the Palestinians to make concessions for the established of a state, even more than what was required after the 1993 Oslo Agreement in return for economic gains, self-rule and humanitarian aid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">If UNRWA is dismantled, it would open the door for the separation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This would effectively contain a Palestinian state in Gaza alone, while maintaining the occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with some sort of autonomy for\u00a0Palestinians. This eliminates the idea of \u200b\u200b establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and undermines the unity, destiny and representation of Palestinian people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Externally, such a move to shut down UNRWA would constitute a political, economic and social challenge for those countries surrounding Israel in terms of dealing with those who have been stripped of refugee status. The countries hosting these Palestinian refugees, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, fear this action and its repercussions. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/middle-east-news\/jordan\/jordan-slams-u-s-decision-to-cut-funds-to-unrwa-1.6434615\">warned<\/a>\u00a0that stopping aid to UNRWA \u201cwill only consolidate an environment of despair that would ultimately create fertile grounds for further tension.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Indeed, this is a catastrophic chapter in the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairobserver.com\/region\/middle_east_north_africa\/unrwa-funding-palestinian-refugees-trump-israel-world-news-headlines-13933\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[Source]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Trump administration has a deeper and darker agenda than simply reviving peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. On August 31, the Trump administration announced that it was suspending all financial support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2016, the US provided\u00a0$368 million\u00a0to UNRWA, meaning the agency has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? - Pal-Think For Strategic Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? - Pal-Think For Strategic Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration has a deeper and darker agenda than simply reviving peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. On August 31, the Trump administration announced that it was suspending all financial support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2016, the US provided\u00a0$368 million\u00a0to UNRWA, meaning the agency has [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pal-Think For Strategic Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Palthink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/omar1.shaban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-20T12:34:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-25T12:40:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"938\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Omar Shaban\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Omar Shaban\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Omar Shaban\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/776111d73b0d499e9db6fb27454ee342\"},\"headline\":\"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-20T12:34:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-25T12:40:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\"},\"wordCount\":1187,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles and Studies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/\",\"name\":\"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? 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He is an analyst of the political economy of the Middle East and is a regular writer and commentator for the Arab and international media. He is regularly invited to speak at conferences in Europe and in the USA on Middle East peace process and potential prospect for the Gaza\/Palestinian economy. He published tens of articles and policy papers on various international magazines. Omar Shaban was born and still lives in Gaza, he holds A) Master in development from Geneva graduate institute (2023) B) MSc. Degree in Entrepreneurial Studies, Stirling University, Scotland (1995) and BA in economy from Egypt (1984).\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/palthink.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/omar1.shaban\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/author\/omar\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? - Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? - Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","og_description":"The Trump administration has a deeper and darker agenda than simply reviving peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. On August 31, the Trump administration announced that it was suspending all financial support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2016, the US provided\u00a0$368 million\u00a0to UNRWA, meaning the agency has [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/","og_site_name":"Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Palthink","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/omar1.shaban","article_published_time":"2018-09-20T12:34:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-25T12:40:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":938,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Omar Shaban","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Omar Shaban","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/"},"author":{"name":"Omar Shaban","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/776111d73b0d499e9db6fb27454ee342"},"headline":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA?","datePublished":"2018-09-20T12:34:56+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-25T12:40:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/"},"wordCount":1187,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg","articleSection":["Articles and Studies"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/","url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/","name":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA? - Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-20T12:34:56+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-25T12:40:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Palestine-news-Palestinian-news-UNRWA-funding-Israel-news.jpg","width":938,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/2018\/09\/9315\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Could Washington Dismantle UNRWA?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/","name":"Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Pal-Think For Strategic Studies","url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PALTHINK-LOGO-EN1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PALTHINK-LOGO-EN1.jpg","width":200,"height":111,"caption":"Pal-Think For Strategic Studies"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Palthink"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/776111d73b0d499e9db6fb27454ee342","name":"Omar Shaban","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20210311-WA0055-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20210311-WA0055-96x96.jpg","caption":"Omar Shaban"},"description":"Omar Shaban is the founder and director of Palthink for Strategic Studies which is a Gaza based think and do tank. He is an analyst of the political economy of the Middle East and is a regular writer and commentator for the Arab and international media. He is regularly invited to speak at conferences in Europe and in the USA on Middle East peace process and potential prospect for the Gaza\/Palestinian economy. He published tens of articles and policy papers on various international magazines. Omar Shaban was born and still lives in Gaza, he holds A) Master in development from Geneva graduate institute (2023) B) MSc. Degree in Entrepreneurial Studies, Stirling University, Scotland (1995) and BA in economy from Egypt (1984).","sameAs":["http:\/\/palthink.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/omar1.shaban"],"url":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/author\/omar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palthink.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}