As part of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities’ diplomatic role in amplifying the voice of Palestinian local government within global debates, APLA’s Executive Director, Eng. Abdallah Anati, delivered an intervention during the UCLG Policy Councils meeting on the “Local Social Covenant” and its pillar on public health—one of the key tracks shaping the post-2030 social contract. His remarks were grounded in the lived reality of Palestinian local authorities operating under occupation, persistent resource constraints, and compounding humanitarian and development crises.
In his intervention, Anati emphasized that health is not a technical file confined to hospitals, but a collective political responsibility that is produced daily through the way cities and towns are planned and governed: water and sanitation management, housing conditions and public space, clean air, transport, work, and social protection. Neglecting these determinants, he noted, pushes preventable harm onto already-strained health systems.
Anati stated: “Health is not a technical service delivered only in hospitals. It is a collective political responsibility shaped through water and sanitation management, the way housing and public space are designed, air quality, transport, work, and social protection. When these areas are neglected, the health system is asked to repair damage that could have been prevented.”
Drawing from the reality of local authorities that do not run hospitals yet carry daily responsibility for what public health experts call the “social determinants of health,” Anati highlighted the municipal work that safeguards safe drinking water, safe and well-lit streets, effective solid waste management, and clean, vibrant public spaces. When viewed through a public health lens, this core municipal mandate becomes the first line of defense against illness and premature death and an integral part of the story of universal health coverage and primary health care—rather than a separate administrative file. This becomes especially sensitive in Palestine, where restrictions on land and resources intensify the burden on municipalities striving to protect people’s right to a healthy and dignified life.
Anati also stressed that redefining health “from the ground up” is not a theoretical slogan. In moments of crisis, people turn first to their municipalities and local communities. In Palestine, despite severe constraints, local authorities work to maintain water continuity and hygiene as much as possible, organize essential services, and coordinate with volunteers and community committees. This, he underlined, is resilience as seen from the field—and it requires empowering local actors financially, institutionally, and through data, rather than limiting their role to implementing ready-made plans designed far from their complex reality under occupation.
Within the inclusion dimension advanced by the Local Social Covenant, Anati shed light on the often-invisible care burden borne by women in supporting children, older persons, and persons with disabilities—and how the form of the city can either reduce or amplify that burden. He called for neighborhoods that embed care within the urban fabric: safe public spaces, accessible basic services within a reasonable distance, effective public transport, and nearby community centers—alongside housing and local financing policies that recognize how overcrowding and housing insecurity translate directly into deteriorating physical and mental health. These issues, he noted, are deeply present in the Palestinian experience, where housing and infrastructure conditions intersect with daily political and security pressures.
Looking ahead to the 2026 Tangier Congress, the intervention placed a practical question on the global table: if health is a public right and a shared responsibility, can global health governance continue to be shaped primarily among states and institutions while cities, towns, and villages—including Palestinian local authorities—carry the daily burden of protecting that right? APLA presented the Local Social Covenant as an opportunity to close this gap by firmly positioning local government in agenda-setting, policy design, and implementation oversight—not implementation alone—so that the expertise of Palestinian municipalities, and other cities operating under fragile conditions, is meaningfully reflected in the global conversation on the post-2030 social contract.