Performing Statehood: The Palestinian Authority’s Management of the COVID19 Pandemic in the West Bank

Abstract

This study explores how the Palestinian Authority (PA) has managed the COVID-19 crisis. Drawing on the scholarly literature dealing with the concept of “performativity,” I seek to understand how a challenged proto-state administration which currently governs parts of the West Bank has performed the role of a state through crisis management. Building on interviews with relevant stakeholders and secondary sources such as population polls, news articles and other studies, this paper sheds light on how the Ministry of Health and civil society sought to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the efforts were challenged by internal and external structural obstacles: the Palestinian Authority’s subordination to Israeli and Palestinian political split. The discussion adds valuable knowledge about Palestinian governance in the West Bank, which tends to deal with the security sector. This study sheds light on how the Palestinian Authority took action to limit the spread of the virus through enforcement of restrictions and establishment of committees despite the occupation. On the other hand, it displays how the crisis management has been politicized and characterized by internal political split, the dependence on foreign aid, and the Palestinian population’s lack of trust in the PA.