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The term ‘resilience’ has rapidly been gaining traction in the development and humanitarian aidlanguage. Utilized in such diverse fields as ecology, psychology, and business, there are numerouscompeting and contradictory definitions. The simplest of these, and most ubiquitous within the aidsphere, defines resilience as ‘the ability of individuals, households, communities, and institutions toanticipate,withstand,recover,andtransformfromshocksandcrises.’1

Beforedelvingintoanyanalysisofresiliencedefinitions,frameworks,andapplications,itmustbenoted:‘the real task is howbest tounderstandpeople’s long-termvulnerability and thenhow tohelpmakefuturesuffering less likelyandpeoplebetterabletomake lifechoices’.2 Inotherwords, thetask is toempower communities to self-determine, a factor that is particularly important in the Palestiniancontext. Keeping this critical consideration at the core of any discussion of resilience or resilienceprogrammingwillhelpdirecteffortsinameaningfulandtangiblemanner.

With the widespread and crippling refugee crisis in the Middle East ongoing, there has been muchregionaldebateontheapplicabilityof‘resilience’asaframeworktoimproveconditionsinaprotractedcrisis.Theforceddisplacementofunprecedentednumbersofpeoplehasledtoacrisis,unparalleledintermsofscale,violence,anddestruction,highlightingtheshortfallsintheexistingaidstructure.

1USIP.RebuildingSocieties:StrategiesforResilienceandRecoveryinTimesofConflict.Washington:AtlanticCouncil,2016,7.2ODI,‘Howtosupportresiliencein10not-so-easysteps.’3rdJuly2014.Accessed10thOctober2016.<https://www.odi.org/comment/8547-support-resilience-10-not-so-easy-steps>

“UNDP sees buildingresilience as atransformative processwhich draws on the innatestrength of individuals,communities, andinstitutions to prevent,mitigate the impacts of,and learn from theexperience of differenttypes of shocks – whetherthey be internal orexternal; natural or man-made; economic, political,social,orother”

HelenClark,UNDPAdministrator

Sumud,TransformativeResilience,andtheChangingFaceofAidintheStateofPalestine

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After over five years of ongoing crises and recurrent, proliferating humanitarian disasters, relevantactorsseekabettersolutiontotheongoingchallenges.Whilewewillnotdealwiththeregionalcrisis,itispertinenttounderstandtheurgencyofchangingtheglobalaidnarrative,whichisunabletodealwithacatastrophethathasnowcreatedthehighestnumberofrefugeesinhistory.3

There has been substantial debate in recent years on the relevance and applicability of the term‘resilience’ to programming in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). After almost 50 years ofprotracted occupation, limited developmental progress, socio-economic stagnation or deterioration,andpoliticaldeadlock,donorsandotherstakeholdershavebeenquestioningtheefficacyofthecurrentaid paradigm and its applicability to the State of Palestine, where a unique situation of recurrenthumanitariancrisesandurgentdevelopmentneeds, sometimes termedas ‘de-development4,’persist.Theseotherwisemutuallyexclusivespheresoftenimpactthesamegeographicareaandeventhesamegroup of vulnerable people. Key stakeholders question if there is another way to more effectivelydeliver humanitarian and development interventions, which see real on-the-ground change thatempowersindividuals,communities,andinstitutionstobecomelessvulnerabletoshocks?

Wesupplementthisoverarchingquestionanddelvefurther,asking:

• Whatisresilience–theoryandpractice?• How can resilience-based approaches support the Palestinian project of self-determination

againstIsraelioccupationandblockade?• Howcanresiliencebebuiltandintegratedintoexistingaidpolicyandprogramming?• Howcanwemeasuretheimpactofresilience-basedaidprogramming?• HowdoesresiliencethinkingrelatetothePalestiniannarrativeofSumud(steadfastness)?What

arethelinksandhowcantheybeharnessedforconcretesolutionsforPalestinians?In lookingforanswerstothesequestions,wehavecongregatedkeynationaland internationalactors,stakeholders,policy-makers, academics, andadvisors foradiscussionon ‘resilience’ in thePalestiniancontext.Indoingso,weseeknotonlytogainclarityonthesepressingquestions,butalsotoprovideanopportunityforknowledge-sharing,opendialogueanddebate,andcollectivelearning.Resilience-basedstrategizingholdsthepromiseofbringingtogetheranotherwisescatteredpoolofstakeholderstothink-plan-delivereffectivelyandefficientlytoreducethevulnerabilityofpeoplewithintheoPt.Wewillconsiderthedefinitionandrelevanceof‘resilience’,itsmuch-vauntedroleasabridgebetweenshort-term humanitarian assistance and long-term development, the definition and history of thePalestinianindigenousnarrativeofSumudandits linkagestoresilience,resilience’sapplicabilitytothePalestiniancontextunderoccupation,andfinally,practicalareasofinterventionintheoPt.

3BBC.‘Refugeesathighesteverlevel,reaching65m,saysUN.’BBCNews20June2016.<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36573082>.4Roy,S.,1987.TheGazaStrip:ACaseofEconomicDe-Development.JournalofPalestineStudies,pp.56-88.

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WhatisResilience?The multiplicity of definitions of resilience varywidelybetweensectors,butingeneralincludesomementionofthe‘capacitytorecover’,orendurance,a‘degreeofpreparedness’,5andasenseof‘flexibility’.Some sectors focus strongly on the term ‘agility’,which is often associated with concepts of change.Likeresilience,agilityisalsorelatedtoflexibility,butmoresointhesenseofchangeortransformation.As the concepthasdevelopedwithin the aidworld,the definition has transmuted from an ‘outcome that can bemeasured andmonitored’, and insteadconstitutesamorepracticalability‘todealwithadversechangesandshocks’.6Itisnotwithintheremitof thispaper toanalysethesedefinitions inanydetail,but it is suffice tosay that thisconstructionofresilienceasan‘agileability’informsourdefinitionofresilience,7anditspotentialtoredirectaidintheStateofPalestine,byfocusingmoreonthetransformativeprocessratherthantheoutcomeitself.Wehavenotedthatmanyconceptionsof resilience focuson ‘theabilityofsystemsto function in thefaceofdisturbancesorhazards.’8Whilesystemsareacriticalcomponentofbuildingresilienceincrisissituations, a well-rounded analysis must also consider the ability of individuals, households, andcommunities to become resilient, how this resilience is built and later manifests, the interactionsbetweenthesegroups,andhowtheyimpactoneanother.Furthermore,systems-thinkingremovestheindividual from the centre of discussion, and does not take into account inequities, inequalities, andinternal power dynamics that may impact how resilience will affect the well-being of the people orcommunityinquestion.9

ElementsofResilienceTheOverseasDevelopmentInstitute(ODI)proposesthattheefficacyofresiliencereliesonthefollowingfourelements:1)Exposure(theseverityoftheproblemandthelikelihoodofimpact);2)Vulnerability(howbadlytheywillsuffer);3)Copingandadapting(thedifferentthingsthatpeopledotomaintainanacceptable level of well-being); and 4) Recovery (people’s ability to return to previous level ofwelfare).10 While these four elements are critical to gaining an understanding of what an actualthresholdof resiliencemight be (whendoes an individual, community, institution, or systembecomeresilient?),thispaperpositsthatafifthelementof ‘transformation’mustoccur,wherepeoplereturnnotonlytotheirpreviouslevelofwelfare,buttranscendthistobecomeempowered.

5InstituteofDevelopmentStudies(IDS).Resilience:NewUtopiaorNewTyranny.Sept2012.<http://www.reachingresilience.org/IMG/pdf/resilience_new_utopia_or_new_tyranny.pdf>,10.6Ibid,117‘Theabilityofindividuals,households,communities,andinstitutionstoanticipate,withstandrecover,andtransformfromshocksandcrises.’8ODI,SupportingResilienceinDifficultPlaces:Acriticallookatapplyingthe‘resilience’conceptincountrieswherecrisesarethenorm.London:ODI,2014.P.3. 9IDS,1410ODI,SupportingResilienceinDifficultPlaces:Acriticallookatapplyingthe‘resilience’conceptincountrieswherecrisesarethenorm,3

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Becomingresilient thenwillnotonlyhelp toreducethevulnerabilityof individuals,communities,andsystems,butwill takea step further inproactivelyempowering thosewhoarenow resilient tomovebeyondmerecopingandadapting,totransforming.Thesuccessoftheresilienceframeworkliesinitspotentialtoaddresstherootcausesofvulnerabilitiesortheexistingbalanceofpower.Ifcorrectlyaddressed,‘resilient’people,communities,systems,andinstitutions will be empowered to transform themselves to no longer be vulnerable to existing orfuturerisks.Withoutthisfinalstage,returningto‘equilibrium’orthestatusquo,whichbeganwithitsown set of socio-cultural norms, risks embedding the existing political, economic, and socio-culturalpowerstructureswithinthatsociety.Duringinstancesofshockorstress,themostvulnerablewithinasocietyareusuallythehardesthit.Ifareturntothenormwasthegoal,thenresiliencecannotstandasasuccessful framework for reducing vulnerability in the societyas awhole,but ratheronly thealreadypowerful. It isthereforeessentialto includetransformationastheabsolutegoalofbuildingresilience,althoughthisdoesnotnegatetheentrenchedvalueoftheotherresiliencecapacities.Thissuggeststhatresilience is a spectrum, a continuous, incremental process, alongwhich it canbe claimed that somelevelofresilienceisbetterthannoresilienceatall.Inotherwords, onone level, resilience canhelp communities to ‘bounceback’ to theexistingnormsprior to the shock. Thenext level,however, is the capacity to transform toanewsystem thatallowscommunities to bounce back from more disruption, or ‘bounce beyond’, if you will. Transformativeresilience does not fall into the pattern of ‘when things return to normal’ but rather creates anewnormal. Inotherwords,thecapacitytocreateafundamentallynewsystemwhen,economic,socialorpoliticalconditionsmaketheexistingsystemuntenable.Wearenotseekingto improvethecapacityofPalestinianstosimply livewithexistingchallenges,butinstead to develop a system, which can change and transform itself in new ways, morphing intosomethingnew.Whenresiliencecapacityistested,anewnormaliscreated.Transformativeresilience,then,requiressomecapacitytoanticipatefutureevents,oratleastthecapacitytoseetheimplicationforafutureofunexpecteddisruption.Figure 1 represents resilience capacities asthree manifestations along a spectrum.Absorptive, coping with shocks in order toreturn to equilibrium;adaptive, or adjustmentto shocks; and transformative, or actualchange, is thecapacity tocross thresholds intonew development trajectories, moving beyondtheexistingmodel.Thevulnerabilitywillnotbereduced by absorptive or adaptive capacitiesalone, but requires transformative change forrealempowermenttotakeplace.

Figure1ResilienceFramework

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BridgingtheGapBetweenHumanitarianAssistanceandDevelopmentThe rise of resilience theory has brought back a long-term debate that questions the structure ofinternational aid, specifically the assertion that humanitarian aid and development are discrete,mutuallyexclusiveareas.Aidanddevelopmenthavebeenconceptualisedasalinearcontinuumwhereshort-termhumanitarianaidtransitionstolong-termdevelopmentoncethecrisisisover,11eachwithitsownsetoftools,objectives,andoutcomes.Afterdecadesofaidimplementation,itisapparentthatthelinesbetweenconflictandpost-conflict(orcrisisandpost-crisis)arerarelysoclearlydemarcatedthatitiseasytoinferwhenonemustmovefromhumanitarianassistancetodevelopmentinterventions.12With the incidence of protracted and recurrent crises globally rising, the efficacy of the existing aidstructures is predictably in question. Following the 2016World Humanitarian Summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed that we ‘tear down the divisions between humanitarian anddevelopmentwork.’13Thisproposalhasfacedmuchcriticismfromtheinternationalcommunity,whichhasnotedthataproposaltochangethestructuresofaidrequiresmuchmorenuance.ODIhasproposedanalternativemodelthatseeksnottoteardownthedivisions,buttoincreasecommunicationbetweenthe two spheres: two-way ‘linking relief, rehabilitation, and development’ (LRRD).14 This modelrecognisesthatcrisesrarelyfunctioninneat,linearlines,butinsteadcanmovebackandforthbetweenpeacetime andwartime, can recur, or be cyclic. It encourages two-way communication between thesectors,andnotesthatitmightbenecessarytomovebetweenrelief,rehabilitation,anddevelopmentina non-linear manner, focusing on ‘reconciling the fundamentally different institutional cultures,assumptions, values, structures, and ways of working’15 of these two different aidcommunities/paradigms. Resilience has emerged as a framework that can work with the LRRDframework by acting as a bridge between these two areas, or an ‘integrating discourse’16 that bringstogetheractorsfromthehumanitariananddevelopmentarenasbyprovidingaunifiedgoalofreducingvulnerabilityandincreasingresilience.In the Palestinian case, the LRRD model provides an effective alternative to the existing system,principallybecausecommunitiesoftenhavebothhumanitariananddevelopmentneedssimultaneously.TheUnitedStates Institute forPeace (USIP) explains: ‘Resilience-based interventionsaremeant to gobeyond humanitarian relief and invest, from day one, in local capacities and resources so that theaffected communities and institutions candealwithboth their immediateand long-termneeds.’17Byworkingonbothlevels,along-termandachievablestrategycanbeshapedtohelppreparepeopleandinstitutions against ongoing shocks and crises. This approach can help Palestinian communities toimprove their capacity for resilience toabsorb,adapt, or transform, in order to stay steadfast underprotractedoccupation.

11Mosel,IrinaandSimonLevine.‘Remakingthecaseforrelinkingrelief,rehabilitation,anddevelopment:HowLRRDcanbecomeapracticallyusefulconceptforassistanceindifficultplaces.’2014,3.12USIP,37. 13DuBois,Marc.‘Don'tblurthelinesbetweendevelopmentandhumanitarianwork.’TheGuardian12May2016.<https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/may/12/dont-blur-the-lines-between-development-and-humanitarian-work>.14Mosel,IrinaandSimonLevine,3.15Ibid,616IDS,1217USIP,12

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ReformingtheAidSystem?Thesediscussionson resilienceprovide anopportunity to re-assess theways inwhich aid is planned,distributed,andevaluated,andbywhom,when,where,why,how,andhowmuch.Alreadyreflectingonits role in bridging humanitarian and development work, there is now scope to investigate ‘theasymmetricalnatureofthestructureof internationalcooperation.’18Bothacademicsandpractitionershave commented that a system embedded in the very power structures that it seeks to redress isunlikelytobeveryeffective.Anareathatmeritsfurtherresearchofitsown,itisworthmentioningthattheresiliencemodelhasthepotentialtotransformthewayinwhichaidisdelivered,byreimaginingthepurposeofcharitable‘help’toactualempowerment.Inthisway,itcanoverturntheexistingstructurefromnorth to south,west toeast, top-down tobottom-up, and centralised todecentralised. Instead,the international aid paradigm must encourage resilience-based growth that is locally owned,grassroots-driven,decentralisedandasfaraspossible,detachedfromovertlypoliticalmotivations.

WhatisSumud?Thinkingandconnectingthisconceptof ‘resilience’ to thecontextofongoingoccupation in theoPt iscritical in shaping a new era of a humanitarian-development intervention. The United NationsDevelopment Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) proposesunderstanding global resilience discourses through the prism of the powerful indigenous PalestiniannarrativeofSumud,or‘steadfastness.’

Sumud isanideologicalthemeandstrategythatfirstemergedamongthePalestinianpeoplethataimstofosterperseverance‘throughthedialecticofoppression/resistance’19inthewakeofthe1967Six-DayWar.20Since1967, theconceptionofSumudhas transmuted into twoprinciple forms.The first, staticSumud, ismore passive, even resigned21, and is defined as the ‘maintenance of Palestinians on theirland.’Thesecond,resistanceSumud(inArabic,Sumudmuqawm)isamoredynamicideologywhoseaimistoseekwaysofbuildingalternativeinstitutionstoresistandunderminetheIsraelioccupationofthe

18Ibid 19Nassar,JamalRajiandRogerHeacock.Intifada:PalestineattheCrossroads.NewYotk:GreenwoodPublishing,1990,28.20Ibid21Ibid

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Palestinianterritories.22Today,Sumud isseendifferentlyonceagain,movingbeyondthesymbolismofthelandstruggleandtheubiquitousolivetree.TheprevailingdiscoursesurroundingSumud-basedresistancesometimes introducesthisdichotomyofacquiescenceversushatred(orpassivityversusviolentaction).Whilethesetwoformsstillpersist,RajaShehadeh, the Palestinian lawyer who introduced the Arabic word Sumud into English-languagediscourse,suggestedwhatiscommonlyknownas‘thethirdway,’23betweensubmission(‘passive’)andviolence(‘active’).Thisthirdwayisinsteadseenasthe‘agencyofeverydayacts.’24Theseareformsofnonviolentnon-cooperationthatactivelycelebratePalestinianidentity,dignity,andlife.Tarakiexplains:‘A new conception of resilience has been taking root, one that is not based on an ascetic denial offrivolity, joy, or entertainment, but rather renders the very pursuit of happiness, a manifestation ofresilienceandofresistanceatthesametime.’25The fluidity of Sumud suggests that it can include various intersecting dimensions: 1) Holding fast tosocialandhumanrelationshipsinthefaceoffragmentedanddestroyedcommunities;2)Fightingforself-sufficiencydespitetheIsraelidominationonthePalestinianeconomy;3)Embracingalifelivedindignity,despitetheeverydaychallengesoftheoccupation;andfinally,4)Inspiringpersonalactionandfeeling,beyondjustatheoreticalconcept.26Sumudencompassesnotonlythesymbolic‘stayingontheland’butalso‘commonlysharedpsychologicalandsocialdimensions’thatsuggestSumudismoreabout‘a lengthy, patient perseverance to preserve…Palestinian identity and rights in a colonial context.’27Grounded in today’s conceptualisation of Sumud, the third way encourages what we can termtransformativeresilience.

TransformativeResilienceIn their seminal discussiononSumud, AlexandraRijke andToine van Teeffelennote: ‘…all actions [ofSumud]… remind of another concept often associated with Palestinians and close to Sumud in itsmeanings:resilience.’28Resilience-basedtheoriescrosscutprinciplesofSumudandthereforeprovideaconceptualframeworkforpolicyandprogrammatic interventionstolearnandborrowfrom.Giventheprotractednatureofthe Israelioccupation,resilience-basedprogrammingoffersopportunitiestohelpre-investinformalandinformalsystemstobettersecure,protect,anddevelopPalestiniancapacities.Whenspeakingofresilience,actorsoftenmakethedistinctionbetweentheresilienceof‘hard’and‘soft’systems. Hard systems generally deal with problems that are more easily quantifiable, referring toresourcesorinfrastructure,includingeconomic,human,physical,andnaturalcapital.29Softsystemsarenot easily quantifiable or measurable, referring to lines of communication, interconnectedness, and‘soft’ skills, and are usually in the realm of social capital. Likewise,withinSumud, there are ‘tangible

22Ibid23Rijke,AlexandraandToinevanTeeffelen.‘ToExististoResist:Sumud,Heroism,andtheEveryday.’JerusalemQuarterly59(2015):86-99.,p8924Ibid,p.9225QuotedinMarie,6326Ibid 27 Ibid, p. 94 28 Ibid, 90 29 IA, 24

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resources’ (such as infrastructure for basic needs) and ‘intangible resources’ such as belief systems,religion,andfamilysupport.30Theparallelsbetweenthetwoconceptssuggestthat‘Sumudtranslatesasthesocialecologicalideaofresilience.’31Both‘soft’and‘hard’resilienceisneededinordertohaveboththeempowermentandresourcesnecessaryto‘actasreservesonwhichcommunitiescandrawintimesofcrisis.’32

Basedonthispaper’sconceptualisationofresilience,asatransformativeprocesstoreducevulnerabilitythroughempowerment,andSumud,aseverydayactsofagency,wefindattheheartofbothconceptsliesthenotionoffindingmeansforindividualstoliveindignity.Withintheglobalresilienceframework,communityempowerment,dialogue,andlocalownershiparecrucialaspectsofresilienceinterventions;theseseektoempowerotherwisemarginalisedindividualsandcommunitiestohaveavoiceinlocalandnationaldecision-making.Likewise,withinSumud,oneofthefocalpointsforPalestinianswasthenotionof social cohesion, bringing together otherwise fragmented and dislocated communities due to thegeographic,political,economic,andsocialsplit.Developing‘agency’iscriticaltolivingalifeindignity,inspite of the humiliations of living under occupation, a concept that underpins both resilience andSumud.Thus,buildingsocialties,agency,anddignityareparticularlyimportantforunitingthepopulace,inordertodeveloptransformativeresilience.

30 Marie, 63 31 Marie, 64 32 IA, 24

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Limited experience with measuring the impact of resilience has meant that there is still limitedunderstanding of the potential for unintended outcomes of resilience programming. Interventionsgrounded in resilience can risk leaving communities tomerely learn to cope or adapt to a long-termcrisissituation,withoutaimingforanyrealstructuralchange.33Intandem,Sumud,atsurfacelevel,canriskbeing treatedas a concept thatencouragesPalestinians to just livewith theongoingoccupation,forced displacement, and annexation of their territories. It is therefore necessary to reiterate thattransformativeresilienceseeksnottohelpindividualsorcommunitiestoendureundertheprevailingcircumstances, but to learn to thrive utilising the resilience capacities laid out above (absorptive,adaptive,andtransformative).

‘There are a wide range of coping mechanisms, or adaptation strategies embedded deeply’34 in thestrategies of Sumud. Based on our conceptualisation of resilience, practices of Sumud can be bothabsorptive and adaptive. Examplesof absorptive capacity can include: thepreservationof Palestinianidentity, art, culture,music, and attachment to the land.35 Likewise, it can be seen in the Palestinianinsistencetostayontheland,toreplantolivetrees,andtorebuildhomes,despitefrequentattacks.

Adaptive capacity canbe seen inPalestinian conviction toadapt to the restrictiveoccupationpoliciesthathavelimitedtheirnormalwayoflife.Thiscanincludeutilisingsolarenergyinareasthathavebeencutoff fromthecentralgrid,orestablishingmobile clinics toaccessareas thathavebeen isolatedbycheckpoints andbarriers. These arewell-knownexamples ofSumud,which constitute organic, locallyowned, and grassroots-driven practices that have proven successful as absorptive and adaptivecapacities,demonstratinginternalPalestinian‘resilience’overalmost50yearsofoccupation.

Building on Sumud however, we find new, innovative approacheswithin the Palestinian economy totransform existing practices. Palestinian businesses have been innovating to introduce home growngoods into the economy, of equal quality to Israel, and without any dependency on the occupationeconomy, in order to foster self-sufficiency in the Palestinian context. Businesses like Nakheel haverepurposed land in Area C of the Jordan Valley to grow dates through six date groves, which havebecomesosuccessfultheyarenowexportedinternationally.Inthisexample,wefindaprivatecompanythat has created jobs in an extremelymarginalised area,works closelywith existing farmers to buildtheircapacity,andcreatedhigh-qualitygoodsthatarecompetitivein internationalmarkets.Thesearethekindsoftransformativeprocessesweseektoday.

If utilised to the best of its potential, Sumud can re-energise people to work collectively towardsresisting the impactofprotractedoccupation.Byapplyingadiscourse that isdesigned toself-liberateand self-determine, transformative resilience holds the promise of changing current processes andsystemsthathaveslowlyerodedthestatusandcapacitiesofPalestinians.Theemphasisnowisonhowtobuildthetransformativecapacitiesofsystemsandcommunities.

33Bekdache,Nathalie.‘Resilienceinthefaceofcrisis:RootingresilienceintherealitiesoftheLebaneseexperience.’2015,49.34Marie,6435Rijke,AlexandraandToinevanTeeffelen,91

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TransformativeResilienceUnderOccupation

AidtotheStateofPalestine:Wherearewenow?For the past 25 years, aid assistance to the Palestinians can be summarized as ad hoc, limited, andpolitically constructed to foster peace, security, and state building. After almost three decades ofengagement, it is time to revisit existing strategies and revamp efforts for a long-term and holisticapproachtoaidintheStateofPalestine.

PriortothecreationofthePalestinianNationalAuthority,intheearly1990s,nationalandinternationaldevelopmentorganisationsvieweddevelopmentasameansforfosteringpeace,withintheparadigmof‘development for peace.’With the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, a new era in policy and aidemerged to establish new protocols on the ground. The Accords replaced the previous paradigm,shifting focus to system- and institution-building motivated by a vision of a future, independentPalestinianstate.

Since the events of the second Intifada in 2000, donors have re-directed focus on humanitarianassistance,withlimitedlong-termdevelopmentalprogrammingtoaddresschronicpovertyandsystemicinequality facingPalestinians. In2002, constructionof the708kmSeparationBarrierbegan,ofwhichover60%hasbeencompleted,reducingfreedomofmovement,isolatingcommunitiestrappedin‘seamzones36,’andcausinguntoldpsychologicaldamageasavisiblereminderofoccupation.

From2008 onwards, Israel andGaza have engaged in threewars that have left Gaza’s infrastructurealmostcompletelydestroyed.TheuniquelydevastatingsituationhasledGazatoenterastateofwhatisnowtermed‘de-development’of itspeople, institutions,and infrastructure.Simultaneously,AreaCofthe West Bank37 (~60%) remains under complete Israeli civil and military control. The continuallyexpandingsettlements,alongside Israelibypass roads,military roadblocks,andtheSeparationBarrier,continue to contribute to the deteriorating psychological, economic, social, and political status ofPalestinians.

FacedbyboththeexternalchallengesoftheIsraelioccupation,andtheinternaldiscordcausedbythepolitical split, the current development and rights situation in the State of Palestine is continuing todeteriorate.Undersuchduress,donorsandpractitionersareatalossofhowtoproceedandcontinuetoengageinthisprotractedconflict.

AreasofInterventionDespitethebleakpictureofthecurrentsituationintheStateofPalestine,thereremainareasoffruitfulinterventionwiththepotentialtomakechange.Resiliencecanbeutilisedtoreframeaidfromprovidingservices to ‘passive recipients’ to engaging with and empowering ‘active constituents’, as well aschangingthenotionofsuccessfromproject-basedoutputstoactualsocialchange.

36 Seam zones are a land area in the West Bank located east of the Green Line and west of Israel's separation barrier, in which some Palestinian communities are trapped with unclear jurisdiction, little to no economic opportunity, and both physical and psychological isolation from other Palestinians. 37 The West Bank was splintered into Areas A, B, and C after the 1993 Oslo Accords. Area A is under full Palestinian military and civil control; Area B under Palestinian civil control; and Area C (~60%) under full Israeli military and civil control. This further complicates the development situation.

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Critical to this approach is notwhat programmes are delivered, but how they are delivered, whichactorstheyinvolve,whatmethodsareused,andwhy.Forastrategic,resilience-basedapproachtobesuccessful, there are certain elements that must be taken into account when formulating aninterventionbasedontransformativeresilience.Whiletheserecommendationsarenotnewintheaidsector, they are new in being connected to a resilience-based approach, which can act as a usefulframeworkforimplementation.Inbrief,theseare:ProblemAnalyses38(ratherthanneedsassessment):Whenplanningforanewintervention,actorsmustconsidertheproblemin-depthtounderstandtherootcausesofvulnerability.Relevantfactors includewhether the root causes are external (for example, from the occupation) or internal structuralchallenges (for example, inadequate governance, socio-cultural norms, poor economic growth, etc.).While a ‘needs assessment’ approach can also be useful, the focus on ‘needs’ rather than ‘causes’meaningtheyleadtointerventionsthatonlytackletheshort-termsymptomsofalargerproblem.Flexibility39: Resilience-based programming requires flexibility from both donors and implementers,withawillingnesstochangetheobjectives,activities,orplannedoutcomesofprojectsifcircumstanceschange,toensureactualefficacy,ratherthanmereproject-basedsuccess.

Long-term vision: The two prior considerations lead directly into a demonstrable need for long-termstrategic planning that tackles the structural causes of vulnerability and is flexible in its approach, inorder tomake transformational change in thecontext.Transformationcannothappen through stand-aloneprojectswithoutcooperationbetweenimportantstakeholders.

Commitment: Key stakeholders must be willing to make real, long-term commitments to resilience-based strategising and programming, moving away from project-based interventions, in order toactuallybuildtransformationalindividualandcommunityresilience.

Taking risks but demanding accountability: Awillingness to take greater risks is critical for new andinnovativeapproachestobefoundthatcanleadtoactualchange.However,atthesametime,rigorousaccountabilitymustbedemandedfromimplementerstomeasurechange.Measuringresilienceisstillanew area that must be further explored, as the fluidity of resilience cannot easily be measuredquantitively.Insteadofusinginappropriate,standardisedmonitoringandevaluationprocesses,analysismust take into account not just an objective view, but also the subjective view of participatingcommunitymembers.

Local ownership: For resilience to lead to transformation, local ownership is vital to increase theadequacy,efficiency,andsustainability40of interventions.Localactors,organisations,andgovernmentmustbeengagedandempowered, inordertoensureagenuinelocalstakeinproposedinterventions.Communitiesmustbelieveintheproposedinterventionstobemobilisedtoparticipateinameaningfulmanner.Thisalsohelpstheprocessofmovingawayfromthecurrentaidstructurethatreifiesexistingpowerstructures,andtendsonlytoempowerthealreadypowerful.

38ODI,SupportingResilienceinDifficultPlaces,22.39Ibid,15 40USIP,26

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Areaswhereresilience-basedprogrammingcanpotentiallymakealong-termsustainableimpactincludesustainable economic aid, psychosocial support, and community dialogue. At the same time, it isimportantforresiliencetoincludeintersectionalapproaches,whichtakeintoaccountotherfactorssuchasage,gender, race,marital status,economicbackground,disability status, religionandsoon.This isbecausethevulnerabilitiesfacedwithinacommunitywillimpactpeopledifferently,dependentonhowtheyarealreadyvulnerableormarginalisedwithinthatcommunityitself.Resilience-basedprogrammingmust takethis intoaccount,becausetheprocessof increasingresiliencecapacity,particularly in ‘soft’systems, may vary widely from group to group. Achieving greater resilience may look different andencompassdifferentelementswhentakingintoaccountintersectionalvulnerabilities.

SustainableEconomicAidDuetothe1994ParisProtocol41,thePalestinianeconomyhasbeenintegratedintotheIsraelieconomywithanabsenceof ‘economicborders.’With restrictionsonconstruction inAreaCof theWestBank,andtheblockadeonGaza,economicgrowth isseverelyhinderedbythe Israelioccupation.While thishasbredsomeeconomicinnovationandentrepreneurialsuccessacrosstheStateofPalestine,thelackofopportunitymeansthatunemploymentratesarestaggeringlyhigh,withyouthandwomentheworstaffected.IthasalsoforcedanumberofPalestinianstoseekworkinIsrael(legallyorillegally),onillegalIsraeli settlements in the West Bank, or to emigrate out of the country for better opportunity andstandardofliving.Thishasledtoa‘braindrain’intheoPt.

Economicgrowthcontinuestobehamperedbythefactthatthe‘Palestinianeconomyisdependentonits Israeli counterpart and faces internal and external challenges that impede economic developmentand threaten economic sustainability.’42 The complete dependency on the Israeli economy caused bytheParisProtocol,lackofaPalestiniancurrency,andvasttradeandmovementrestrictions,meanthat

41Betselem.TheParisProtocol.January1,2011.http://www.btselem.org/freedom_of_movement/paris_protocol.42InternationalMonetaryFund.WestBankandGaza:ReporttotheAdHocLiaisonCommittee.Ramallah:InternationalMonetaryFund,5April2016,4.

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Palestinians, especially youth, face compounded vulnerabilities, such as poverty, food insecurity, andlower living standards. Transformative resilience programming would focus on ‘developing self-sufficiency structures and a decrease in dependency on the Israeli economy, especially in thestrategically important countryside with Israeli settlements emerging everywhere and a Palestinianagriculturestrugglingtosurvive.’43

AdualsolutionisrequiredheretobothincreasePalestinianaccesstoeconomicopportunity,byfocusingon interventions to improve self-sufficiency and putting pressure on the Israeli and Palestiniangovernmentstoreachapoliticalsolution.These interventionscould include investment inagriculture,vocational training, and focused livelihood responses, with a strong focus on young women, whoseparticipation rates in the economy are extremely low. The overall goal is to move away from theoccupationeconomy.Byimprovingself-sufficiencyandmakingeffortstodiversifyincomestreams,theeconomywillbecomeresilientandbetterabletodealwithrecurrentshocks.

Transformative resilience programmingmust include interventions in the education sector, at schoolanduniversitylevel,ascurrentlythesearefailingtopreparepeopleforthechallenginglabourmarket,leadingtoaproblemofbothdemandandsupply.Werethistochange,thePalestinianeconomywouldhave a better skilled workforce to become self-sufficient by bringing new ideas for innovation andentrepreneurship.Educationprogrammingshouldincludelocalcurriculumdevelopment,whichincludesanunderstanding that school is an ‘important socialization space that shouldmodelwhat apeaceful,democratic,andpluralisticcommunitylookslike.’44Thiswouldalsohelptoprovidethenecessarybasis

43Rijke,AlexandraandToinevanTeeffelen,8844USIP,20

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for improved psychological health and greater tolerance,whichwould lay the groundwork for bettersocial cohesion. For youngpeople tomakechoices that canhelp transform theeconomic sector (andsocietyingeneral),thismustbeginfromencouragingcriticalandinnovativethinkingfromayoungage.

PsychologicalSupportThepsychological impactof long-termexposure to traumaunderoccupation, inall itsmanifestations,internalfragmentation,religiousandsocietalconservatismandchallengessuggestthatitisparticularlyvital to build the resilience of Palestinian communities. Palestinians have already proven their‘psychological hardness’45 in the face of ongoing occupation and its recurrent and new challenges.However, thishasbeenverymuch focusedoncopingmechanisms,bothpositiveandnegative,undercircumstancesofoccupation–therearefewexamplesoftransformationalchangetohelpcommunitiesbecome less vulnerable. It is therefore critical for interventions to includepsychosocial support to gobeyondcopingmechanisms,andinsteadfostertransformationalcapacities.Thiscanonlyoccurthroughthe true empowerment of individuals in a holistic manner, including economic empowerment, realengagementwithdecision-makers,andalternativestounhealthycopingmechanisms.

Furthermore, psychosocial support ‘is crucial not only to an individual’s well-being but also to thefunctioningandresilienceofasocietyasawhole,directlyimpactingitssocialcapitalandthepossibilityofachievingsocialcohesion.’46

It is critical therefore to provide and expand accessible gender-sensitive psychosocial support,integratedintootherhealthservices,inordertohelpovercomesocietalstigma,especiallyforthemostvulnerablegroups.This isacritical step inbuildingresilience,aspsychologicalhardinessand fortitudeare necessary to go through a process of transformational change at an individual, community, andsystematiclevel.

CommunityDialogueandSocialCohesionBoth theconceptsofSumudandresiliencearepredicatedon theneed forsocialcohesionandstrongcommunitylinks,dialogue,andagencywithinsociety.Asdescribedintheprevioussection,psychosocialsupport is necessary to create the conditions for future social cohesion. It is a critical component todevelopingtheopen-mindedness, tolerance,andrespect fordiversityneededforeffectivecommunitydialogue.Within the StateofPalestine, the long-runningpolitical split betweenFatahandHamashasmanifested in greater fragmentation and a lack of Palestinian unity, in terms of both vision andimplementation. Separate and divided governance, has led to economic, political, psychological and,ultimately,socialfragmentation.

FortransformativeresiliencetobefosteredintheStateofPalestine,thereneedstobeaunificationofaims, methods, and plans across the territory, and for all Palestinians (including those in theinternationaldiaspora)tofeelpartofanoverallPalestiniancommunity.Withoutdoingso,marginalisedgroupsareleftvulnerabletoradicalisationandunhealthycopingmechanisms.Therethereforeneedstobe a greater effort to bring in marginalised groups, particularly those who feel powerless, into themainstreampoliticalsphere,especiallywomen,youth,andBedouincommunities.

45Rijke,AlexandraandToinevanTeeffelen,87 46USIP,17

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Therefore, ‘investing in local mechanisms for community dialogues and conflict mediations will notreplace the need for comprehensive resolution of violent conflicts but will help prevent somemorelocalizedformsofviolence.’47ThisisanimportantperspectiveinreachinginternalreconciliationwithintheStateofPalestine,withoutwhichtransformationonapoliticalandoverallstatelevelwouldnotbepossible.

Conclusion:NextStepsThis paper brings together the global framework ofresiliencewiththeindigenousconceptofSumud,topositanewaidapproach,bridginghumanitariananddevelopmentinterventions,thatisgroundedintransformativeresilience.‘The longer that local populations remain in survivalmode,thesmallerthechanceofthembecomingresilientlater in the process.’48 In the State of Palestine, the localpopulationhasbeeninsurvivalmodesince1967,andwhilethere has been consistent aid coming in, there has beenlittle on-the-ground change to improve the lives ofPalestinians under occupation. It is time for a new aidparadigm to be enacted,whichwill empower Palestiniansto develop their resilience capacities beyond coping andadaptingtorealtransformation.Resilienceapproachesnotonly act as a bridge between humanitarian anddevelopment interventions, but also between differentprogrammatic areas. An individual must have access tolivelihood,education,andhealthcare,psychosocialsupport,and feel part of a wider community with a voice of theirown. Resilience provides a framework with which toholistically consider all of these aspects, and buildinterlocking interventions that demonstrate anunderstandingofhowthesefactorsinteract.

Thispaperandconferenceactsonlyasastartingpointforchange.Donorsandotherkeystakeholdersnow must make long-term commitments to resilience-based programming, policies and advocacy inorder to see real change. Transformative resilience, anchored in Sumud, provides a real nationalconnection to the overarching concept of resilience, and a lens through which Palestinian andinternational resilience actors can act in a transformative manner. We hope that the collectivelearning, open dialogue,and knowledge sharing from this conferencewill help us to develop a newroadmapforaid,utilisingtheframeworkoftransformativeresilience.

47USIP,2348USIP,12

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