Culture in Conflict: Contextualizing Palestinian Cultural Diplomacy

Palestine is not universally recognized as a state and experiences only restricted sovereignty. The protracted conflict with, and ongoing occupation by Israel limits Palestine’s access to official tools for international relations and diplomacy. Instead, Palestine relies on soft power tools, such as cultural diplomacy and international cultural cooperation, as alternative venues of international engagement and communication with the wider world. The paper construes Palestinian cultural policies as instruments for preserving and representing its culture and as forms of resistance within the context of the ongoing occupation by Israel, both in the international and domestic spheres. It maps Palestine’s cultural policies at various state levels and situates these tools within a political context. This study provides new insights into the cultural dimensions of the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation. It enhances our understanding of the role that culture and cultural diplomacy play in intractable conflicts, and it contributes to the broader knowledge of cultural policymaking and diplomacy.