Policy Brief Issue (2) - 'Recovery Dividends’: An Emergency Basic Income for Palestine

Gaza is enduring an unparalleled calamity, with ceaseless destruction devastating its economy and leaving 2.2 million in dire straits—homeless, traumatized, and at the brink of disease and starvation. Still, in the West Bank, decades-long economic encirclement and subjugation have intensified the Occupier’s grip on the economy, with over 200,000 commuting labourers subject to exploitative conditions and haphazard movement restrictions, a reality of over 850,000 illegal settlers,1. and decades-long insecurity, instability, and injustice for Palestinians; all aggravated by the Palestinian Authority’s economic debilitation.2.

While the challenges of Palestine’s future may be overwhelming, they call for a comprehensive vision. This extends from the immediate responses to the war’s aftermath to the potential for a political breakthrough.3. Gaza’s recovery calls for a new approach to aid, informed by other recovery efforts, to avoid the pitfalls of disorganized aid and the critical need for local participation in its distribution.4. This is the context in which it is proposed that there an Emergency Basic Income (EBI)5. would be an innovative mechanism to support economic recovery and individual sustenance in post-crisis regions, beginning in Gaza Strip. The EBI would provide all eligible residents with a stable, unconditional monthly payment, calculated to approximate the cost of a basic subsistence goods and services basket. This would infuse the local economy, stimulate demand, enhance economic activity and foster local production. Empowering individuals financially would catalyze a bottom-up economic revival, unlike inefficient misaligned top-down aid interventions. 

The success of EBI in this context hinges on its thoughtful design and implementation, attuned to Palestine’s unique socio-political and economic context of Palestine, with the ultimate goal  melding the easing immediate suffering with long-term recovery and aligning with ambitions for peace and self-determination. A pilot phase is essential to evaluate the EBI’s socio-economic impacts thoroughly.6. This approach necessitates a phased, region-specific deployment, informed by pilot outcomes and tailored to each area’s economic landscape and capacity. Central to this strategy is a collaborative governance framework, merging local authority efforts with community engagement to enhance the EBI’s legitimacy and effectiveness, laying a robust policy foundation to transform Palestine’s socio-economic environment.