Why Palestinians Distrust the Palestinian Authority
How free speech is stifled across the West Bank
Co-authored with Professor Bilal Hamamra (An-Najah University in Nablus, Palestine) from our forthcoming article “Free Speech and Democracy in Palestinian Universities: A Call for Parrhesiastic Speech.” This excerpt has been adapted and rewritten for Medium. I also want to highlight one of the comments, which suggests that it would be better to call the PA the “(Non-)Palestinian Authority.”
While the physical infrastructure of all universities in Gaza was destroyed by Israel during the Gaza Genocide of 2023-24, Palestinian universities in the West Bank remain physically intact. Yet Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to which Israel has subcontracted its repressive apparatus, are actively seeking to undermine their ability to serve as sites of critique and resistance to occupation.
Universities across Palestine have long played an outsized role in the country’s cultural and political life. They are where revolutionary ideas are born, where students learn to organize, and where Palestinians learn to resist with their most powerful weapon: education. In recent years, however, universities have been marginalized by the PA, as part of Israel’s campaign to suppress Palestinian free speech and academic freedom.
