Palestine, its reality and what parts are safe in it, this study presents some important recommendations inspired by the discussions of the relevant stakeholders and the analysis of the study sample, and they can be summarized as follows:
The need to find an entity that is closer to the status of the general observer of privacy and data protection in Palestine, which enjoys a high level of credibility, whose reference is the Palestinian Legislative Council, and seeks to implement and enforce the law that is supposed to regulate and protect the privacy of Palestinians, and to collect and process their data. For example, the Ministry of Communications should impose strict privacy and oversight policies in consultation with this commission, whereas the General Observer should supervise and monitor compliance with privacy policies within the performance of companies and websites in the public and private sectors, and in the local and international context. In order to institutionalize this issue, the functions that the authority responsible for monitoring privacy and personal data must perform, its powers, need a control system in place, and a complaints system that allows citizens to claim their rights and report violations of privacy to which they may be subjected, must all be determined beforehand. What are its powers, what is the monitoring system followed, and the complaints system that allows citizens to claim their rights and report privacy violations that they may be exposed to.
to protect citizens from violations committed against them by various parties, in consultation with civil society and the relevant competent authorities. This should take place after expediting the process for holding legislative elections, because the Legislative Council has the inherent jurisdiction over legislation. Until then, 7amleh demands the application of the constitutional rule stipulated in Article No. 32 regarding all violations of electronic privacy and personal data, which considers any attack on the sanctity of a person’s private life a crime for which neither criminal nor civil lawsuits are subject to statute of limitations.
All concerned parties, including civil society organizations, relevant government agencies and international institutions operating in Palestine, should work to educate the Palestinian public about the issue of privacy and data protection, its importance, dangers, impact and dimensions, and hold seminars, courses and trainings, and call upon experts and technicians to discuss the issue from more technical angles. These efforts should be Institutionalized through studies, research and scientific production, as well as introducing some topics and courses to university students, especially to faculties of media, communication, law and computer science. There should be also calls for research and studies in this aspect and delving into it to study all its aspects, developments and techniques and to compare the Palestinian reality with the global context in the issue of privacy.
On the other hand, this study’s recommendations in particular agree recommendations of previous studies in terms of the need for international organizations to carry out their duty towards this issue and to educate the public and users about its dimensions and how to protect their digital privacy and ways to do so, by urging countries to work on joint projects, putting pressure on them to enact such laws. The recommendations also demanded international organizations to impose international sanctions to be implemented on all violators of the privacy law in any country, and to consider this as one of the basics for the establishment of democracies around the world.
| The Number | The Question | Legal Capacity |
| 1 |
Iyad Al-Zitawi |
Executive Director of the Financial Stability Group, and Director of the Office of Risk Management at the Palestinian Monetary Authority. |
| 2 |
Abdel Moneim Fatafta |
Social media and digital marketing expert. |
| 3 |
Shawan Jabarin |
Director of the Palestinian Al-Haq Foundation for Human Rights. |
| 4 |
Ibrahim Abu Bakr |
Head of the Computer Emergency Response Center at the Palestinian Ministry of Communications. |
| 5 |
Hussein Hammad |
A representative of Al Mezan Foundation for Human Rights - Gaza. |
| 6 |
Dima Samaro |
Lawyer and digital rights expert, based in the Middle East and North Africa region. Previously, Policy Analyst - Middle East and North Africa at Access Now. |
| 7 |
Dr. Issam Abedin |
Academic and Legal Expert. |
| 8 |
Raed Alyan |
Director of Call You Internet Services. |
| 9 |
Mahmoud Abu Shamla |
CEO of the electronic payment company Maalchat. |
| 10 |
Ammar Jamous |
A representative of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, which monitors the privacy and data protection file in Palestine. |
| Geographical Space | Number of People | Session Duration | Male | Female |
| West Bank |
16 |
2:00 |
6 |
10 |
| Gaza Strip |
15 |
2:00 |
8 |
7 |
| East Jerusalem |
14 |
2:00 |
6 |
8 |
| The Total |
45 |
6 hours |
20 |
25 |