A Hybrid Social Security System in the West Bank, 1994-2014

Abstract

This study explores social security in the West Bank since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994 until it was granted the status of a non-member state by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014. The author maintains that Palestinian social security in the West Bank is “hybrid” in nature, and generally typified by three distinct forms of social security that respond to different criteria: guarantee a minimum income to marginalized and the poor Palestinians based on the criterion of “need”; maintain the previous quality of life of former staff of the PA bureaucracy and security services, by means of social security schemes based on the criteria of "insurance"; and finally through group-affiliated allocations meant to compensate individuals to enhance their living standard, for belonging to particular social groups with national political overtones (prisoners, wounded, families of martyrs), or to assist specific population groups (such as those affected by the occupation due to their living alongside the separation barrier and those who are unemployed due to closures). Among the questions addressed by the author in this insightful analysis on the West Bank’s social security system, is whether the PA political elite’s reliance on three criteria for different groups provides an indication of their desire to co-opt these groups via different modalities: charity governed by the principle of "need" for marginalized civilians and the poor; reciprocity through the principle of "insurance" principle for the PA bureaucracy and security services; and "compensation" as a varying ‘militancy’ benefit merited by groups clustered by their values or agendas, or the goals of the PA political elite.