Researcher Fouad Mamoun Rasheed, a student in the Master’s program in International Law and Diplomacy, has defended his thesis titled: “The Role of Informal Factors in Strengthening Palestinian Diplomacy: Public Diplomacy (1993-2023).”
The study aimed to identify the role of informal factors in strengthening Palestinian diplomacy: public diplomacy between 1993 and 2023. The researcher sought to analyze how unofficial parties interacted with the Palestinian government and how this cooperation contributed to strengthening Palestinian diplomatic efforts.
The researcher adopted the descriptive analytical approach using the interview and content analysis instruments. The study came out with a set of results, the most important of which is: the emergence of noticeably diverse informal factors in Palestine during the period from 1993 to 2023, which included: popular committees, organizations, activists, and alternative media. This phenomenon comes as a response to the urgent need to shed light on the Palestinian case, and to compensate for the lack of international media coverage. The results also revealed that these actors benefited from social media as an effective tool for communicating and transmitting events. The youth movement also played a prominent role in shedding media light on events, especially during the Palestinian uprising in 2021 and the recent war on the Gaza Strip in 2023. However, these actors faced challenges related to organization and the weakness of political and economic programs.
The study recommended the need to develop new strategies for public diplomacy, with a focus on enhancing the positive influence of informal factors in the context of diplomatic work. It also recommended enhancing interaction and cooperation with informal actors through developing effective mechanisms and channels for communication, such as establishing official platforms for permanent dialogue. Moreover, the study recommended encouraging the participation of civil society and non-governmental organizations in formulating and implementing public diplomacy policies, and ensuring their representation in international forums.
The thesis was supervised by Dr. Dalal Iriqat. The committee of examiners included: Dr. Abdul Qader Al Izza, and Prof. Dr. Ayman Yousef.