ABSTRACT
The state formation process in Palestine that started in 1993 with the Oslo Agreements came to an almost complete halt with the collapse of the Camp David talks. The onset of the Second Intifada in late 2000 and the Israeli reoccupation of most of the West Bank and Gaza in 2002 marked a significant setback to this process. From its establishment to the eruption of the Second Intifada, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) carried out several transformational initiatives as part of a complex state formation process. A Palestinian state apparatus with political mechanisms was established and steadily enhanced. This happened despite the fact that the Oslo Agreements gave the PNA only partial control of national governance, despite the fact that the status of the territory remained unsettled, and in the face of political, social, and economic challenges common to, and often more serious than, those in other emerging states.
