Palestinian NGO Sector: Development & Major Characteristics

Abstract

This article examines the situation of Palestinian NGOs before 2012 through a review over the NGO sector and their regulation, governance and relationship to various stakeholders that the sector is expected to be accountable for. This article sheds light on Palestinian organizations to classify the sector's vulnerability. It also sheds some light on the multiple factors behind the contentious relationship between NGOs and public authorities on the one hand, and between NGOs and the general public on the other hand. The article uses a combination of a quantitative and qualitative methodology and mixed data collection methods from primary and secondary sources for the purposes of clarifying the governance situation of NGOs. The controversy surrounding Palestinian NGOs are because of their motivation, agendas and sources of funds. One of the factors that increases the suspicion is the fact that its board of directors and its director intrude from the Palestinian public and withhold information from them. In the period referred to, the Palestinian Authority closes organizations that support Islamic view and liquidates their resources, while tens of new PA supporter’s organizations have created, receives financial support from the PA., and others emerged that were established for personal purposes, maintaining a relationship with the current of power, and the legal framework and governance framework for NGOs remained left on the shelf and used for opponents/ one major finding is that the NGOs sector is able to serve the and helps in fulfulling public needs and strategic national interests if they choose to despite the changes in the national political situations and the pressures imposed from the authorities and donors. The study contributes positively to the understanding of NGOs as a sector. Its clafry the challanages and the weaknesses of the NGO sector and call for more foucs on seving public needs.