Ramallah - The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN) launched its annual report on the developments of the state of integrity and anti-corruption in Palestine for the year 2024, titled "Progress in the Government Reform Plan... And the decline in trust in the integrity of governance."
The report is intended to provide specific recommendations to Palestinian decision-makers and relevant parties, which would assist them in adopting policies, plans, legislations, and procedures to enhance the integrity of governance, and to enable public institutions to avoid the risks of corruption in its various forms. It should also empower and assist those involved and supporters from civil society institutions, activists, and citizen volunteers, in participating in efforts to combat corruption, protect public funds, and contribute to building effective and accountable institutions for the State of Palestine in the face of Israeli occupation.
What is Required: Reform to Restore Citizens' Trust
The Chairman of the Board of the AMAN Coalition, Abdul Qader Al-Husseini, pointed out in his speech that Dr. Mohammed Mustafa's government launched a reform program that covered many areas at the institutional, financial, and administrative levels, and for enhancing transparency and rationalizing expenditures. However, the implementation of the program faces real challenges, whether due to internal reasons such as continuing to make decisions that do not necessarily serve public interest or due to the resistance of influential parties to the reform process because they want to avoid losing their material or political privileges, or for reasons related to the practices of the occupation.
Al-Husseini also stated that this has led to an ever-widening gap of distrust between citizens and the ruling authority, calling for the adoption of a participatory and comprehensive national reform plan that includes political system reform, under the supervision of an independent national committee notable for its integrity and trusted by the Palestinian public.
Al-Husseini recommended that the government pay serious attention to the recommendations in the report, calling for the formation of a national salvation government with the consensus of all factions, based on a unified political program that restores the Palestine Liberation Organization's status as the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people.
Despite some improvement, the payroll bill is constantly inflating, and the reforms for retirement and civil service laws are always deferred
The annual report included some positive developments, as 2024 witnessed improvements in certain aspects of the financial, administrative, and institutional reform plan. These improvements were reflected in downsizing the expenditures, enhancing revenue collection, regulating employment, and better management of state assets, along with steps to improve services and develop electronic payment systems.
However, the crisis of inflated salary bills and net lending persisted without concrete solutions. The government has also delayed addressing fundamental issues, such as the reform of pension and civil service laws, amidst difficulties in managing public finances and a weak response to structural issues like pension fund debts and employee and private sector arrears; and although the public budget continued to be presented to civil society institutions, actual participation in its preparation and prioritization was absent.
The subordination of security agencies to the President's office makes it difficult to hold them accountable
Despite a slight improvement in integrity indicators within the security sector for 2024, the AMAN report shows the fragility of anti-corruption measures. This is due to the constant appointments of several individuals to senior positions without transparent criteria and the absence of administrative controls and regulations that ensure adherence to the values of integrity and accountability.
The imbalance in the administrative structure of some security agencies—where the number of officers exceeds that of soldiers—has contributed to the increase in security spending (21% of the general budget) at the expense of social sectors. Additionally, the subordination of security agencies to the president's office continues to pose an obstacle to their actual accountability, increasingly weakening governance in this vital sector.
The ongoing uncertainty regarding the end of political division and the Israeli occupation has deepened the gap of mistrust of the political system
The AMAN Coalition’s annual report showed that the persistent uncertainty regarding the end of political division and the Israeli occupation has deepened the gap of distrust in the existing political system. The report elucidated that the government's financial crisis persists because of Israeli policies, such as the plundering of clearance funds and control over natural resources, in addition to the genocidal war on Gaza Strip and the escalation of settler and the Israeli army’s frequent attacks in the West Bank.
Despite the government's efforts to implement reform measures, the occupation continues to undermine the Palestinian Authority and disrupt its role in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, preventing it from achieving tangible achievements.
Expansion of the central absolute authority policy at the expense of government powers
The year 2024 witnessed a substantial increase in the policy of central absolute authority, which limited the government's ability to exercise its powers in managing public affairs, despite the clear tasks assigned to it by the basic law. The absence of the legislative council and the suspension of general elections exacerbated the crisis in implementation of the rule of law and contributed to the presidency's acquisition of numerous governmental powers, a most obvious constitutional violation.
In this context, issuing new or additional appointments and promotions in senior positions continued with presidential decisions, by which 33 officials were appointed and 340 others promoted, in addition to the transfer, extension, and reappointment of other officials. The presidential decisions also included the reappointment of former ministers to other high positions, which exceeds the government's powers as stipulated in the basic law. Most of the appointments of heads of security agency were granted to the Presidential Guard, by decisions from the presidential institution, in clear violation of the law governing security personnel, even after its amendment.
The AMAN report also indicated that the political class continued to expand at a time when the government was unable to bridge the budget gap and secure the payroll, which increased the financial burdens and weakened confidence in the political system's ability to achieve stability. The inflation of the wage bill and net lending also contributed to hindering progress in financial and administrative reform, despite the announced efforts.
Many public institutions are still outside the scope of the reform plan
In her discussion during the corruption report conference, Hama Zidan, Operations Director at AMAN Coalition, pointed out that the Palestinian government, despite announcing a financial and institutional reform plan, a large number of public institutions are still not included in this plan due to their affiliation with the presidency. She indicated that some of these are non-ministerial public bodies, the constitutional and administrative courts, embassies, and the security institution, which operate with funding from the public treasury and under the Civil Service Law, without being effectively held accountable by the government. This is undermining the government's ability to implement genuine comprehensive reform.
Zidan also provided several clear examples of the executive authority making decisions and taking actions that contradict the government's reform plan, the most notable of which is: Law No. 8 of 2024 amending the bonuses of members of the Legislative Council, the government, governors, and those at the ministerial level, and granting them bonuses and retirement allowances. In addition to appointing several former ministers to new positions as a way to appeasing these officials.
Judicial reform and ensuring its independence
Zidan also emphasized the report's recommendation to reconstitute the Permanent Supreme Judicial Council in accordance with the Judicial Authority Law No. (1) of 2002, and to enhance the independence and integrity of the Supreme Constitutional Court and administrative courts. She also emphasized the need to enable the judiciary to perform its duties without political or security interventions, and ensuring the integrity of appointments and promotions, which would enhance citizens' trust in the judiciary.
Enhancing transparency and the right to access information
The AMAN report also underscores the importance of enacting the right to information law and standardizing administrative records, along with completing the electronic archiving system to ensure the people’s easy access to data. It also calls for the publication of complete texts of government decisions, legal and financial documents, contracts, and statistics on official websites, with the exception of sensitive information. The report also stresses the need to publish the annual plans of public and security institutions.
Criminalization and prosecution of corruption and the corrupt: Increase in corruption complaints against high-ranking officials
The report reviewed the most significant data related to criminalizing corruption and pursuing the corrupt, as the Anti-Corruption Authority's data showed that the number of complaints and reports handled by the authority during 2024 reached 1,379 complaints and reports, of which 670 were received during the year, and 709 were carried over from 2023.
Among these complaints, the upper categories (ministerial level, upper and first categories) constituted 111 complaints and reports, approximately 16.5% of the total, compared to 12% in the previous year.
Slow procedures in investigation and trial
The Anti-Corruption Prosecution initiated investigations into 31 cases in 2024 and referred 35 of them to the judiciary, without disclosing details of the accumulated cases or the suspects from the higher echelons. As for the Anti-Corruption Court, it has only ruled on 12 cases out of 153 pending cases (including cases carried over from previous years), reflecting a slow pace in the proceedings. Only 8 convictions were issued, and amounts estimated at 2.34 million shekels and 41 thousand dinars were recovered.
No real reform without rebuilding the political system
Dr. Azmi Al-Shuaibi, Advisor to the Board of Directors of the AMAN Coalition, stated that the absence of a serious will for comprehensive reform, which must include the reform and rebalancing of the political system in Palestine by conducting elections, reviving the legislative council, and ensuring a balanced separation of powers, especially because the executive authority has complete control over other powers and decision-making centers without official oversight.
He also emphasized that addressing the successive crises, starting with the occupation's measures in the West Bank and the genocidal war in Gaza to the ongoing financial crises, cannot be achieved without rebuilding the Palestinian political system on transparent and fair foundations, clearly separating the powers of the president and the government, and ensuring the independence of the judiciary and oversight institutions.
Al-Shuaibi also called for adopting a decentralized model in emergency and disaster management, which empower elected municipalities and civil society institutions, while enhancing government oversight and coordination with international organizations. He also pointed out that relying on governors to manage crises, as was done during the COVID-19 pandemic, was not successful, emphasizing the need to transfer resources and decision-making to local authorities within a clear national strategy.
A video summarizing what is in the report: https://www.aman-palestine.org/media-center/28997.html
To download the full report: https://www.aman-palestine.org/reports-and-studies/28985.html
