NGOs in Palestine: Agents of development and foundation of civil society

Journal of Palestine Studies

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 93-100

  Sullivan, Denis J ^a,b  

^a NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b Center for Middle Eastern Studies   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION; PALESTINIAN PEOPLE; STATE BUILDING;

MIDDLE EAST, OCCUPIED TERRITORIES;

EID: 0029856454     PISSN: 0377919X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2538262     Document Type: Article

References (16)

1. Muhammad Muslih, "Palestinian Civil Society" in Civil Society in the Middle East, vol. 1, ed. Augustus Richard Norton (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), p. 257.
2. Joachim Zaucker, Andrew Griffel, and Peter Gubser, "Toward Middle East Peace and Development: International Assistance to Palestinians and the Role of NGOs during the transition to Civil Socicty," Interaction Occasional Paper (Washington, December 1995), p. 17.
3. Catholic Relief Services puts the number of NGOs at 1,200, including unions, cooperatives, and youth clubs. The PNGO Network estimates there are 800 NGOs, excluding unions, cooperatives, and clubs. The Palestinian Center for Microprojects Development puts the figure at 1,200 to 1,500. This figure has been difficult to determine precisely given the previous Israeli monopoly on statistics as well as the fact that there are a considerable number of "licensed service providers" that are not registered as NGOs but whose work constitutes NGO activity.
4. The American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) has the most extensive, but still incomplete, data base of PNGOs presently available. They know there are at least 800 PNGOs based on data they collected at workshops throughout Palestine. They also know that there are many more NGOs - including Hamas social organizations, which are great in number - which did not participate in the workshops.
5. According to ANERA, 18.5 percent of the NGOs on its data base are located in the Gaza Strip, about 13 percent in Hebron, and 25.5 percent in the northern area (Nablus, Janin, Qalqilya, and Tulkarm).
6. See the PNGO Network's PNGO Newsletter 1, no. 3 (May 1995), p. 12.
7. Mustafa Barghouti, "Palestinian NGOs and Their Role in Building a Civil Society" (1995, mimeographed).
8. Interview with Constantine Dabbagh, director of the Near East Council of Churches, Gaza, 27 November 1995.
9. Zaucker et al, "Toward Middle East Peace and Development," p. 20.
10. When PECDAR officials received a copy of the draft, their lawyers and others in the office concluded that it would be better for NGOs to "close up shop" than to live under such a law. Interview, Ramallah, October 1995.
11. Interview with Rana Bishara, coordinator of PNGO Network, Bayt Hanina, 17 October 1995. Other PA draft laws were made publicly available, including those covering the press, political parties, the environment, and trade.
12. Interview, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gaza City, 18 October 1995.
13. PNGO Newsletter 1, no. 4 (September 1995). pp. 2-14.
14. Interview, PNGO member, Jerusalem, 24 October 1995.
15. Interview, Fritz Froehlich, Society for Austro-Arab Relations, 1 November 1995.
16. Interview, PNGO member, Jerusalem, 24 October 1995.