NGOs in Palestine: Who can save us??

Everyone wants to think that someone or something can save them.  Perhaps a good job, a chance to travel, a coveted scholarship, God or even love.  Here in Palestine, just as in many other places in the world both rich and poor, many people are looking for a path to salvation from their present circumstances – a path leading them to happiness and contentment. Aren’t we all?

In Ramallah, many NGOs are offering paths to hope and success.  Of the over 800 NGOs operating in the West Bank and Gaza, there are programs and projects ranging from job training, agricultural support, water sanitation, trade facilitation, health clinic support, microfinance, gender programs, small business development, summer camps, English language, computer skills training, etc on and on. 

This plethora of NGOs, programs and projects has caused me to consider what I would want my role to be if I worked here long term, as well as the overall effects of this NGO explosion. Without writing a long treatise on the subject, I venture to say that there are things about this system that make me uncomfortable.  One is that many NGOs seem to be offering salvation in one sense or another.  So many Palestinians are frustrated by lack of job and educational opportunities, or the inability to travel, that many look for a project that can help them.  In Gaza, many NGOs have been choked off due to the siege, but UNRWA continues to provide schooling and jobs to tens of thousands of Gazans (UNRWA is technically considered an inter-governmental organization, not an NGO, and is one of the single largest employers of Palestinians).

The uncomfortable, or troubling, aspect of this is that offering these projects to improve peoples’ lives seems to be a thriving industry, and has been going on for decades. UN agencies and NGOs employ thousands of Palestinians through international donations, keeping the economy afloat. Yet the overall situation for Palestinians does not seem to be improving. In fact, it is declining. I hear over and over again about the declining quality of the universities, the schools, the shrinking job market and especially the difficulty obtaining permits to travel. 

I have no doubt that many NGOs here have helped a lot of people. I am sure that many Palestinian would say this as well.  The question is, as foreigners working here – with international aid dollars flowing in – what is the best role for us? Should we be focusing on more NGOs, more programs, more projects? Or focusing on what will really change the situation?

If I had a direct line to President Obama, I would use it. If I could sit in the Knesset and somehow convince Israelis that their policies in Gaza and the West Bank are unproductive and harmful, I would. But I am just like everyone else – I don’t have the ability to pull the political strings and work the political muscle necessary to broker peace in Israel-Palestine. So, I’m here working in an NGO, hoping to help some people, but knowing that overall the situation will continue to stagnate until politicians can muster the energy to change it.

There is no answer to this, but I wish that I felt more comfortable about working in the NGO sector here in Palestine.  I think everyone – foreigners, Israelis and Palestinians alike- is skeptical about promises of salvation here, when from hard experience we know that decades are passing without ‘peace.’ So I come back to: who can save us? I suppose we all know that it isn’t NGOs, and it isn’t even Obama. It’s going to take perfect timing, strong leadership, a lot of political will, immense pressure and a whole lot of luck and blessing to deliver salvation to this land.