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About Ministry of Planning

On 04/29/2003 two new ministries were formed. These two ministries are: Ministry of Planning, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Work areas of the Ministry

The planning core areas dealt with by the Ministry, and highlighted with the signing of Oslo Accords and the subsequent political facts, have been focusing on four main issues: first, the continuous Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which needs more concentration on the current situation and the underlying problems, such as the destruction of infrastructure, national institutions, and economic structures, in addition to the deterioration of the general economic situation and the problems of overpopulation and high poverty rates. This requires the adoption of strategies and plans that focus on supporting the economic and social conditions of the Palestinian people in the West bank and Gaza Strip, the restoration and rebuilding of the infrastructures and economic structures destroyed by the occupation troops, in addition to meeting the necessary needs of different population sectors, especially those who are most harmed, and alleviating their suffering. This can be achieved by relying on Palestinian people’s capabilities, different promoter and donor countries, whether Arab or foreign ones.

The second issue is the need to develop plans and strategies for reconstruction and rehabilitation, whether on the economic, social, constructional or institutional levels; and to prepare for the establishment of the modern Palestine, including the reform and improvement of Palestinian institutions; in addition to paving the way for a leading and strong role to be undertaken by the private sector in several fields.

The third issue is related to the need of introducing the socio- economic and cultural content of the future Palestinian society, and to deeply establish its specific principles and values, such as democracy, equality, sovereignty of the law, good governance and decentralization of governance.

The fourth issue is related to the conflict with Israel, which centers on land and natural resources control and utilization. The nature and essence of this conflict makes it necessary to put into consideration the geo-political aspects and to give them a specific priority in all Palestinian development plans and strategies on one hand, and on the other hand, to mobilize all support for the Palestinian negotiator in the current political process as well as the final status negotiations so as to come at the end to the establishment of the independent Palestinian State and its capital, Jerusalem.

Therefore, the current situation requires putting these issues on top of all Palestinian planning and development priorities with the possibility of paying more attention to one of them than the other in certain conditions. This was the case in the last three years when the first issue was the one put on focus. However, these issues remain by nature interrelated, intertwined and mutual, This needs a high level of flexibility to deal with them and adapt to the state of instability characterizing the political process, and the resultant qualitative and quantitative changes.

Furthermore, the fragility of the general economic situation and the Palestinian authority inability to provide the necessary funds for performing its daily activities and implementing different development plans and programs put the international support for Palestinian economy and development plans on top of all Palestinian priorities for a long period to come. Therefore, the development of successful tools and mechanisms for coordinating technical, financial, and technological aid programs provided by donors to the Palestinian Authority, NGOs, and private sector is one of the more important issues that should be dealt with by relevant institutions, foremost of which are the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Economy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which undertakes the responsibility of informing the international community with Palestinians’ needs, in general and of mobilizing all support to meet these needs.

The role and mission of the Ministry

Development is a continuous, complicated and overlapping process to which all the community sectors and institutions contribute. In this sense, the process of development requires creating the widest possible partnership among all operating parties in the framework of clear coordination relations and mechanisms. In this regard, the role of the Ministry of Planning is confined to leading, coordinating, planning and managing the development process, in addition to following up on the implementation of this process, clarifying its results on the national level and coordinating among Palestinian ministries and institutions in order to suggest the policy references and mechanisms suitable for solving problems and overlapping issues, as well as for clarifying the centralized and decentralized relations among them. Further, the Ministry is always concerned with securing and managing the international support for the whole development process.

The role of the Ministry can be summarized as follows: to lead the cross-sector planning, to develop comprehensive development policies with the participation of all relevant Palestinian institutions, and to coordinate and support sector planning in the concerned ministries and institutions so as to ensure their consistency with the comprehensive cross-sector approaches and plans. In this context, the Ministry develops different plans and programs and introduces them along with their policy foundations to the Cabinet for deliberation and approval; then referred to the legislative council for ratification.

The Ministry of Planning endeavors to provide support means to different plans and programs and to follow up on this in coordination with the executing parties on one hand, and with international donors, on the other hand. In this regard, the Ministry coordinates with the Ministry of Finance in defining the sector distribution of different investment projects and programs financial resources, and in preparing the PA investment budget and following up its funding with international donors. On the other hand, the Ministry coordinates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with regard to concluding and ratifying general funancing agreements with the donors.

Moreover, the Ministry manages the ‘Demographic center” after being moved from the Ministry of Transportation into its premises. It also endeavors towards developing the center so as to become a national institution that provides specialized services in its work area. In addition, the Ministry prepares the national construction plan, which is considered the organizational framework of local and regional construction development. The implementation of this plan takes place in coordination with the Ministry of Local Governance and other concerned ministries and institutions through the Supreme Council of Planning and Regulation

The entire work of the Ministry aims at contributing to the provision of an environment appropriate for enabling the Palestinian people to achieve progress and prosperity as well as to raise their standard of living and improve their quality of life. Thus, the main motivation behind any intervention undertaken by the Ministry must be strategically consistent with this objective and with the necessity to create the environment that enables and supports all development processes and humanitarian activities, whether on the individual level or the entire community level. In general, the Ministry undertakes its activities in accordance with the following principles:

  • First: the commitment to provide an encouraging economic, social, cultural, and legal environment that enables the Palestinian People to achieve social and economic independence and build their independent and viable state.
  • Second: the commitment to combat poverty by undertaking decisive procedures considering this as a moral, social, political and economic necessity.
  • Third: the commitment to enable all Palestinians, men and women, to secure their sustainable means of living through productive and freely chosen workers and work.
  • Fourth: the commitment to achieve social security and provide means of stability, safety, and justice to all people by reinforcing and protecting human rights, applying the principle of non discrimination, and by deeply establishing the principles of tolerance, gender respect, equal opportunities, solidarity and security; in addition to sharing the sufferings of all underprivileged and weak individuals and groups.
  • Fifth: the commitment to encourage full respect of human dignity and achieve equality and justice between man and woman, in addition to acknowledging the participation of woman and its leading role in political, civil, economic, social, and cultural life and in the development process as a whole.
  • Sixth: the commitment to provide a suitable environment to children so as to grow as good and productive citizens embracing high values.
  • Seventh: the commitment to promote the development of economic, social, and human resources in the less developed areas.
  • Eighth: the commitment to provide a suitable environment for comprehending the achievements and progress produced in the fields of culture, science, and technology.
  • Ninth: the commitment to build strategic partnership among the Authority, civil society, and private sector by reinforcing communication channels on local community and entire society levels, and also by deeply rooting the principles of accountability, and transparency on all levels.
  • Tenth: the commitment to improve and support international and regional cooperation to achieve social and economic development, reinforce the spirit of partnership and mutual interest among Palestine and other countries, and on the regional level as well.

In pursuance of these principles, and based on the above mentioned, the Ministry of Planning seeks to achieve its following mission:

“To draw up development plans, scheduled and unscheduled, in order to achieve progress and prosperity for the Palestinian People, raise its standard of living, and improve its quality of life so as to cope up with all man-made progress in different walks of life, taking into consideration the peculiarity of Palestinian aspirations, and the importance of involving all concerned institutions in the economic, social, cultural, environmental, constructional, and technological sectors, as well the field of capacity building. In addition, the Ministry seeks to approve and adopt theses plans, coordinate its financing, and implement as well as follow up their implementation with all concerned entities, local or international.

In view of the specific conditions undergone by the Palestinian People who seeks through negotiations to end the occupation of its land and establish its independent, democratic, sovereign and viable state, the Ministry is also concerned with developing plans that deal with all matters related to this issue.”

Objectives of the Ministry

Out of the ministry’s understanding of its role and mission, and based on its analysis of the current situation and its present and future requirements, the Ministry shall seek to achieve the following general objectives:

 

  1. To raise the Palestinian society’s standard of living and improve its quality of life ; to maintain and develop its resources and capabilities, reinforce social justice among its members, and participate in the development of necessary economic, social, and demographic policies. In addition, the Ministry will seek to link such policies and include them within executive plans and programs.
  2. To achieve the best utilization of the capacities, potentials, and competencies of Palestinian citizens, living on the Palestinian territories and in Diaspora, in the development of an integrated strategy that matches between the different requirements of this process, including all economic, social, cultural, environmental, constructional, and technological requirements.
  3. To Provide means of suitable financial, technical, and technological support that match Palestinian People’s needs and development plans adopted by the government.
  4. To establish modern and effective Palestinian institutions that cope up with international advancement, through trained and competent human resources consistent with local needs and aspirations and with the PA development plans.
  5. To support the Palestinian negotiator in the current political process and the final status negotiations so as to establish the main pillars of the independent Palestinian State and its capital Jerusalem.

In particular, the Ministry will seek to achieve the following specific objectives:

  1. To define the needs and priorities of national development and draw up development policies, objectives and strategies.
  2. To establish work relationships with neighboring countries in the field of planning, which requires cooperation on the regional level and with other countries in the fields influencing the Palestinian development.
  3. To coordinate and rationalize different sector priorities within comprehensive cross- sector approaches, plans and periodical development programs, and to follow their implementation and provide suitable revisions according to new developments and practical requirements.
  4. To reinforce social justice by narrowing the gap between different population groups and the gap between social types on the national level and in other fields including the economic, social service and infrastructure service fields, on the one hand; and by reinforcing development essentials, on the other hand, depending on the peculiarity of each area and its needs and according to a comprehensive development vision.
  5. To achieve the best utilization of the Palestinian land on the national level, and to develop the necessary plans taking into consideration the protection of environment and natural resources.
  6. To achieve the best utilization capacities and potentials available in order to manage the process of reconstruction, reform, and change; and to activate the role of the governmental body and increase its effectiveness and success in achieving its mandate and managing and rationalizing the resources available according to the vision, strategies and policies arising from the national reform plan.
  7. To provide trained human resources suitable for meeting the institutional needs in particular and the Palestinian development needs in general.
  8. To create the encouraging environment and legislative reference regulating the work of Palestinian institutions; and to suggest the limits of their authority, terms of reference, and specialization, as well as their sector and society links.
  9. To provide financing, technical and technological support to different development projects and programs, in coordination with Palestinian ministries and institutions, and to ensure that financing issues are successfully followed up by the presence of coordination mechanisms between them and the approved financing agencies.
  10. To support the Palestinian negotiator by providing the necessary information and specialized technical studies, in addition to providing the required technical support in accordance with the needs of political process.
  11. To develop the geographic information systems of the ministry, produce the main and planning maps, and to provide technical support, including geographic information systems, to all directorates of the ministry as well as to other Palestinian ministries and institutions through the application of suitable criteria and systems and provision of necessary training.