In October 2011, Palestine became the 195th full member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Subsequently and since then, Palestine has ratified six UNESCO Conventions, including the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The Ministry of Culture (MOC) is the authorized entity to lead efforts for implementing, and advancing the principles and goals of the 2005 Convention, and managed to submit the first quadrennial report on the Convention in June 2017. On the other hand, the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science is the focal point for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD). In the current reporting exercise and since 2019, Palestine benefited from UNESCO’s support through the project “Reshaping Cultural Policies for the Promotion of Fundamental Freedoms and Diversity of Cultural Expression” financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
In the last four years, and in partnership with UNESCO and other relevant stakeholders, MOC has worked actively to setting the way towards achieving the different goals of the 2005 Convention. On one hand, MOC conducted a series of capacity building and training modules on the 2005 Convention, its goals, its implementation mechanisms and its policies in Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Gaza. Moreover, MOC organized a series of training sessions on the IFCD, introducing Cultural Society Organizations (CSOs) in Palestine to the fund and its conditions and application process, which resulted in selecting three CSOs as recipients of the fund during the past 3 years.
On the other hand, ratifying the 2005 Convention motivated the State of Palestine to incorporate culture on the national agenda of sustainable development 2017-2022, including, for the first time, an explicit reference to creative industries. Focusing on culture was further elaborated in Palestine with the development of the 2017-2022 National Strategy for Culture, which was based on the provisions of the 2005 Convention for setting up the cultural policies. Furthermore, MOC in cooperation with UNESCO and thanks to the support from the Drosos Foundation, took on responsibilities to assess the multidimensional role of the cultural sector in the development process by embarking the first of its kind project, aiming at evaluating statistics and data based on the newly-launched Culture|2030 Indicators methodology. The project is utilized as a monitoring tool for both MOC and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
The national efforts are also evident in the first cultural strategy prepared by the Ramallah Municipality to include the city of Ramallah on UNESCO's global network of "Creative Cities". On the governmental level, the Ministry of Entrepreneurship was established in 2019 with a mission to advance entrepreneurship, including within the cultural sector in Palestine.
Additionally, and to sustain the film sector in Palestine, UNESCO is supporting Palestine through a programme to adopt new regulatory frameworks to strengthen the cultural and creative industries and promote South-South cooperation, aiming to establish a national entity for film in Palestine. The project is expected to commence during 2021.

On the international level, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) designated Jerusalem as the Capital City of Islamic Culture for the year 2019, whereas celebrating "Bethlehem - Capital of Arab Culture 2020" was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the State of Palestine, through MOC, signed and activated several cultural agreements with Arab and foreign countries, including the government of Norway, to continue supporting the Palestine Cultural Fund (PCF).
Palestinian creative independent sector has been an active and an influential player in art production, developing the Palestinian contemporary art scene in particular, introducing Palestinian artists to regional and international art scene, and advancing creative industries, especially filmmaking and music. The independent sector, including cultural and artistic NGOs, independent artists and independent initiatives such as cooperatives, bands and companies, have all contributed to presenting Palestinians’ multiplicity and diverse cultural expressions worldwide.
On another positive outlook, the last two years also marked the birth of special projects that addressed the status of independent artists in Palestine, while the programs and impact of three main leading cultural networks was consolidated: Qibab Network of Jerusalem Cultural Institutions, the Jerusalem Arts Network – Shafaq and the Palestine Performing Arts Network (PPAN).

Despite the liveliness of the Palestinian cultural expressions, major challenges still remain and others escalate due to the Israeli Occupation that continues its illegal practices against the Palestinian People. As the colonial power continues its illegal practices, it imposes a complex reality for the natural flow of any cultural exchange and development. This applies to all the Palestinian People in the Occupied Palestinian territory including Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Refugee camps and the diaspora as well as Palestinians living in historic Palestine that was occupied in 1948. While cultural expressions by default require the freedom and mobility of artists, artworks products and cultural trade, restrictions and violations imposed by the Israeli occupation undermines the achievements of the 2005 Convention goals and objectives, and most importantly, denies the cultural rights of the Palestinian People to be fully exercised.

The Cultural sector, whether public bodies, civil society organizations or individual artists, undergo several challenges due to the geographical fragmentation. This is evident on many levels when it comes to implementing programs, projects and activities. For example, some events in Gaza were cancelled due to the destruction of Al -Meshal Cultural Center in August 2018 by the Israeli occupying forces, whereas the Jerusalemites need to get clearance from the Israeli colonial power to organize cultural events in the city. There are many cases where cultural centers were forced to shut down or cancel their programs when such clearances were not granted. The geographical fragmentation imposed by the Israeli occupation not only disrupts the mobility of artists and artwork products, but also the accessibility or participation of the public in the events taking place in the different geo-political areas of Palestine.

On a national level, the absence of the legal and social infrastructure that protects the freedom of cultural expressions, and limited public funds for the cultural sector, and the withholding of Palestinian clearance revenue by Israel, as well as the limited contribution of the private sector in culture, impose another level of challenges on the advancement of the 2005 Convention goals and objectives.
Moreover, it is expected that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will negatively impact the sector at different levels: funding, practicing and participation. In response to this new challenge, MOC conducted a comprehensive survey that would contribute towards the assessment of COVID-19 impact on the CSOs and the independent sector nationwide. During the lockdown, the Ministry developed several interventions that aimed to activate the cultural scene and support writers and artists. Digital culture programs were launched where authors and artists had the opportunity to speak about their experience and answer questions asked by the attendees. The program called “Talat Thaqafia” (Cultural sessions) that was live-streamed on MOC’s different virtual platforms attracted thousands in every session, where more than 110 artists and writers appeared. During the Holy month of Ramadan, through the social networks of the Ministry, 17 singers presented their folklore songs for 2 hours each day. A special program for children theatre was introduced, and 25 plays were live streamed. Additionally, more than 500 artists and writers benefited from this special program to support individual young artists and writers who lost their work due to the lockdown with $500 each.
Furthermore, MOC organized online art exhibitions to show work art created during the crisis. During the past six months, 18 exhibitions were displayed. MOC also launched two creative competitions; one targeting writers and artists to present the works they created during the quarantine, and the other targeting children. As a result, 250 winners received financial prizes. All these interventions helped activating the cultural scenes during the lockdown and gave opportunities to authors, writers and audiences in remote areas to be part of the activities.
On the other hand, and in the framework of the Reshaping Cultural Policies for the Promotion of Fundamental Freedoms and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions project funded by Sweden, MOC conducted a series of four talks and debates on ‘Future prospects for the cultural scene in times of crisis’, ‘Youth, emerging technologies and online artistic forms’, ‘Status of women in the Palestinian cultural field and creative industries’, and ‘Artistic training and art education’. Taawon, a leading Palestinian association that supports culture, also launched in cooperation with MOC a series of debates among CSOs aiming at identifying the future needs, while working at proposing collective solutions that would consolidate the sector’s resilience.
Finally, on the international front, there are certain cases where conditional funding and political agendas interfere in the freedom and the development of Palestinian cultural expressions.