Power Without Strategy...

Every time the aggression against our Palestinian cause intensifies or regional and international transformations escalate, the traditional question resurfaces: What has Palestinian diplomacy done? It is a legitimate question, but it can be misleading if we confine diplomacy to embassies, official missions, and political statements. The world we live in today is no longer solely governed by these tools; influence is now established through universities, research centers, large corporations, media outlets, digital platforms, cultural institutions, and cross-border knowledge networks.

This leads to perhaps the more important question: Who manages Palestinian influence around the world?
The concept of power has changed drastically over the last few decades. In the past, nations were measured by the size of their territories, armies, and political alliances. Today, knowledge, data, innovation, and culture have become essential elements in determining a nation’s international standing. Influence is no longer the sole domain of foreign ministries; it is now distributed among academics, business leaders, artists, researchers, influencers, and think tanks.

When we look at our Palestinian experience, we find a paradox worth reflecting on. On one hand, Palestine has one of the most prominent causes in global consciousness, possessing a massive amount of international sympathy and legal and moral legitimacy. On the other hand, this presence still lacks a comprehensive strategic framework that could transform it into sustainable influence capable of impacting global decision-making.

We are not just a people engaged in a political struggle. We also constitute a vast global network of competencies, expertise, and relationships. There are thousands of Palestinian academics at prestigious universities around the world, tens of thousands of businesspeople and investors in the Gulf, Europe, and the Americas, and hundreds of researchers, scientists, doctors, and engineers holding influential positions in major international institutions. There is also a notable Palestinian presence in literature, art, media, culture, and sports.

But the painful question is: Are these energies mobilized under a single national vision? Or are they isolated individual successes that lack a cohesive Palestinian influence project?
The Israeli example offers an important lesson, regardless of the political stance towards it. Israel did not build its global influence solely through traditional diplomatic activity, but rather through a comprehensive system that includes universities, research centers, technology companies, business networks, cultural, and media institutions. It recognized early on that influencing knowledge production centers is just as important as influencing decision-making centers.
In contrast, we still view diplomacy as an official task monopolized by governmental institutions, whereas many nations regard influence as a national project shared by both the state and the society.

Take a close example from the Palestinian experience itself. Despite all political, economic, and security circumstances, Palestinian universities have managed to continue their work for decades, producing thousands of graduates and researchers and developing unique experiences in education under crises. This exceptional experience could have turned into a global school in resilience studies and education in situations of occupation, conflicts, and wars, becoming a permanent subject at major universities and international research centers. However, much of this expertise remains confined to local reports or temporary projects.

The same applies to the Palestinian community's experiences in crisis management, social solidarity networks, local economic initiatives, models for empowering women and youth, and the experiences of municipalities and civil society institutions working under exceptional constraints. All of these experiences hold global knowledge value, yet they have not yet transformed into genuine tools of influence.

What we lack today is not just resources or capabilities, but the existence of a modern national strategy to manage soft power. A strategy that links universities with embassies, research centers with decision-makers, businesspeople with diplomatic missions, and Palestinian communities with home institutions.

We need a vision that makes every Palestinian researcher an ambassador of knowledge, every businessman an economic bridge, every academic institution a platform for international influence, and every local success a global story ready to be circulated, taught, and inspired.

In today’s world, narratives do not prevail simply because they are just, but because they are organized, institutional, and capable of reaching circles of influence. It is not enough for a people to have a just cause; they must also have the ability to translate that justice into knowledge, policies, partnerships, and long-term alliances.

Palestinians have proven over more than a century that they are capable of resilience. Perhaps it is time to demonstrate their ability to manage their global influence with the same level of competence. The battle of the twenty-first century is not waged only on the ground, or solely in the corridors of politics, but also in universities, research centers, technology platforms, and the rooms where ideas are produced.

Herein lies the question that should occupy Palestinian elites and decision-makers more than ever: Do we have a national strategy for managing Palestinian influence in the world, or are we still content with managing crises while others continue to manage the future?