"The importance of being a State": Obstacles and opportunities of the Palestinian state-building

Nowadays, the exercise of sovereignty by a power pursuing public interests on a territory and its inhabitants is no longer a sole prerogative of nation-states. Indeed, states coexist with a plurality of new orders such as non-state public authorities. An example of non-state public authority is the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), namely the self-government body established by the Oslo Agreements (1993) to administer the Palestinian Territory for an interim period of five years, with the aim of forming an autonomous Palestinian state that has never been achieved. Although since its establishment PNA has embarked on an institution-building process aimed at gradually achieving the independence in terms of territorial control, economy, people flow management and transnational relations, after thirty-one years an effective and fully functional Palestinian state was not established, and the current and increasing exacerbation of the conflict in the Gaza Strip suggests that it is not destined to be born in the short/medium term. The obstacles that have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state are both endogenous – deriving from the Palestinian actors’ behavior and choices – and exogenous – arising from the choices, the behavior, and the omissions of external actors. The aim of this work is to present and analyze in depth the abovementioned obstacles and then to discuss the opportunities that the creation of an effective and fully functional Palestinian state could guarantee to local populations in terms of justice, rights, and protection, and to the political stability and security of the whole region.