8

soft power

PALESTINE EMERGING proposes building positive awareness of Palestine through culture and creative engagement.

CULTURE, CREATIVITY, ENTERTAINMENT

Soft power is a persuasive approach to international relations. It seeks to shape the preferences of others through voluntary appeals, and typically involves the use of economic or cultural influence. 

Develop an uplifting post-crisis brand to shape an overall narrative, creating a messaging strategy and key visuals as a nation branding exercise. Launch a tourism marketing campaign aimed at dedicated target groups in selected markets.

Restore historical and cultural sites in Gaza and the West Bank. Consider cultural development strategies implemented in Italy and France. Ensure accessibility, create interpretation centers and education programs. 

Launch a Palestine Film Strategy. Invest in a streaming-compatible mini-series or a Palestinian telenovela reflecting Palestine’s everyday culture and lifestyle. (Role model: South Korea). 

Host a Palestine National Expo as a 3-4 month long event on land reclaimed for the the future Gaza Island Port. Highlight themes related to cultural reconnection. Use exhibitions and pavilions to showcase related projects outlined in this report. 

Establish a comprehensive initiative to establish, support and boost creative industries as a major theme in the region. Create studio districts with subsidized spaces for creative activities. Develop environments in the metaverse and other virtual worlds (leveraging 5G connectivity) where Palestinians can define their identities, create virtual tourism activities, and realize “regulatory arbitrage” advantages. 

Offer a Palestine Tourism Initiative, to attract diaspora and other nationals to Palestinian cultural life. Develop industry-scale tourism for both Gaza and the West Bank by promoting relevant sites and destinations. Prepare an enabling and quality training program for small hotels and inns. 

Anchor a small number of “PalestiNext” hubs at key global locations (Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul, Singapore, London, California, Shenzhen, Bangalore), to serve as go-to places for technology and other future-oriented companies, people, and associations to liaise and connect with the local tech/entrepreneur/future ecosystem. Representatives from Palestinian companies, platforms and the start-up ecosystem will run these “PalestiNext” hubs. 

Begin to prepare for a National Memorial by establishing a Memorial Task Force so commemorative dialogue can be as constructive as possible. The Task Force will be supported by a technical advisory committee and staff, in cooperation with agencies charged with reconstruction. Identify a joint commemorative site and develop a broad and inclusive memorial design process, which will ultimately incorporate an urban icon and interpretive center. Integrate the memorial site into broader plans for economic reconstruction.

PALESTINIAN MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER TEAM

Following the examples of Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s sports strategies, Palestine will make major investments in its national team to make it more competitive in international tournaments. The team will compete in a future Middle Eastern super league (e.g. KSA, Qatar, Egypt, Palestine) or a European soccer super league.

This team will be similar to other strategic showcase teams such as AS Monaco (Ligue1/France), RB Leipzig (Bundesliga/Germany) or Inter Miami CF (MLS/United States). The team will finance itself through a worldwide fan base, amplifying Palestine’s narrative/nation branding.

  • Create a temporary training facility
  • Get a world recognized coach and staff,
  • Create the team jersey
  • Organize a PR campaign
  • Hold open tryouts for youth teams, under 21’s, and senior team
STADIUM

Create a national team stadium which can be adapted for other sports and other events, including large-scale music concerts. The venue will anchor urban development, generating direct and indirect employment. 

The stadium can be built to accommodate 20,000-25,000 seats on a permanent basis, with the opportunity to increase to 40,000 seats with a temporary overlay.

Stadiums can create a sense of identity and purpose, and communicate values and ambition to future generations.  Consider early Roman cities with their amphitheaters. Modern examples in the USA include Fenway Park/Boston and Camden Yards/Baltimore.

Completed in Qatar ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, ‘Stadium 974’ is a 40,000-seat sports venue; it was the first stadium designed to be fully demountable in FIFA World Cup history. Its modular structure combined repurposed shipping containers and a steel structure, parts of which were recycled. The aim was for the stadium to be dismantled and reassembled in a new location after the football tournament, or repurposed as a series of smaller venues.

The shipping containers, many of which were used to transport construction materials to the venue, served as a nod to Qatar’s maritime history and the industrial heritage of the site. The stadium’s modular design also reduced constructions costs, build time and material waste. Water efficiency methods reduced water use by 40 per cent compared to a conventional stadium development. The shape of the stadium and gaps between the seats facilitate natural ventilation, meaning artificial cooling is not required. This is helped by the stadium’s proximity to the sea.

In Castile and León in Spain, four teams – Real Valladolid, Burgos CF CD Mirandés and SD Ponferradina – represent 113 million euros, 0.2% of the regional GDP, inducing 1,000 jobs.

La Liga (2023).