ABSTRACT
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared an independent state of Palestine in 1988, with little success. In November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognize Palestine as a nonvoting state, giving it the same status as the Vatican. The Muslim Ottoman Empire, based in Istanbul, ruled Palestine indirectly for four centuries, from 1516 to 1920. At the popular level, Palestinians pushed for various boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Under the PA, individuals with important political ties to power often have been rewarded with lucrative state contracts or monopolies that have generated significant wealth in a short time. Three dynamics in particular contributed to PA authoritarianism: conflict among the elite, Palestine's political economy, and the imbalance of power between Palestine and Israel. While not a sovereign state, the Palestinian Authority had an active foreign policy during the Oslo period of limited autonomy, and particularly during its drive for international recognition of statehood beginning in 2012.
