Zakat Committees in the West Bank 2025: Social Trust and Governance Gaps

The management of zakat funds is considered an issue with religious, social and public financial dimensions, given its direct impact on poor and vulnerable groups and on societal trust in the institutions responsible for its management. The zakat committees in Palestine have witnessed a historical evolution; they began as voluntary informal committees, then were gradually regulated under the supervision of the Ministry of Awqaf, culminating in their restructuring after 2007 by dissolving all central and sub-branch zakat committees — which at the time numbered more than 92 committees spread across cities and villages — and merging them into central zakat committees (11) at the governorate level, and establishing the Palestinian Zakat Fund within the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs to supervise those central committees and monitor their work.

I reviewed a report issued by: " the Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN). 2025 Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in the Work of Central Zakat Committees in the West Bank and the Effectiveness of Their Role. Ramallah - Palestine". In it, the report offers an in-depth reading of the reality of the zakat committees’ work, and reaches a dual conclusion: on the one hand, there is a high awareness within the committees themselves of the importance of integrity and impartiality; on the other hand, governance gaps persist at the legal and practical levels.

In this context, the report seeks to examine the degree to which the central zakat committees in the West Bank adhere to the values of integrity, transparency, accountability and impartiality, in addition to assessing the effectiveness of their role, given their management of funds that are public and sensitive in nature. The report’s overall aim is to improve the governance environment in the work of the central zakat committees and to enhance their ability to protect themselves from corruption risks. The specific objectives are: to examine the integrity of those responsible for committee work; to assess the level of transparency and the availability of information to the public; to analyze internal and external accountability and oversight systems; and to measure impartiality and effectiveness in aid distribution and program implementation, in order to produce practical recommendations to strengthen independence and sound governance.

The report also shows that the legal framework for the work of the zakat committees is primarily based on extant Jordanian legislation, most notably the Zakat Obligation Law of 1944 and the Awqaf Law of 1966 and its amendments, in addition to the internal regulations and operational instructions for zakat committees issued in 2011 by the Ministry of Awqaf of Palestine. Although these texts contain general principles that promote integrity and oversight, the report records significant structural gaps, the most prominent of which are:

·        The internal regulations and their instructions have not been approved by the Council of Ministers nor published in the Official Gazette, which weakens their legal force.

• The absence of clear policies to prevent conflicts of interest and for financial disclosure.
• The lack of codes of conduct specific to the chairs and members of the committees.
• Weak provisions related to reporting suspected corruption and protecting whistleblowers.
• Limited alignment of the committees’ procurement instructions with the Public Procurement Law.

From an institutional standpoint, the central zakat committees operate under the umbrella of the Ministry of Awqaf, but they are not considered governmental entities in the functional sense, nor are they charitable associations subject to the Associations Law, which creates a special legal status that sometimes lacks clarity and regulatory control.

The report relied on analysis of the survey results to measure five axes: integrity, transparency, accountability and oversight, impartiality, and effectiveness. The overall results showed a relatively high assessment from the perspective of the committees’ own representatives, with impartiality receiving the highest average (about 78.6%), while effectiveness ranked lowest (about 64.6%), noting that the estimated levels of integrity, transparency and accountability were generally high.

However, the report emphasizes that these results reflect internal perceptions and do not negate the existence of substantive gaps when compared with national and international governance standards. For example, integrity recorded high percentages on some indicators, such as the existence of legislation regulating the work, appointment procedures, and procurement instructions. But on the other hand, clear imbalances emerged, the most important of which are:

• Weak actual implementation of appointment procedures and the presence of employees without contracts or approved organizational structures.
• The absence of practical adherence to systems for preventing conflicts of interest.
• The lack of an effective system for financial disclosure.
• Limited training and awareness of corruption risks.

Regarding transparency, the report indicates a clear deficiency in information disclosure policies, as there are no regular mechanisms for publishing budgets or financial and oversight reports, nor clear policies for handling public requests for information, which weakens local community trust and limits community oversight.

As for accountability and oversight systems, despite the committees being theoretically subject to oversight by the Zakat Fund and the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), internal accountability systems remain limited, with weak mechanisms for receiving and handling complaints and the absence of clear channels for community accountability.

As for the attribute of impartiality, the results showed a high awareness among the committees of the importance of neutrality and non-politicization, and the official instructions affirm the prevention of partisan or sectarian affiliation. However, the report stresses the need to strengthen this impartiality through clear institutional tools, rather than relying solely on general texts.

As for effectiveness, the report found this axis to be relatively the weakest, due to the committees facing challenges related to unequal resources, weak strategic planning, limited evaluation of the social impact of their programs, in addition to heavy reliance on seasonal donations.

The report concludes that the central zakat committees play an important social role, but they operate within an incomplete legal and institutional framework that suffers from gaps affecting levels of integrity, transparency and accountability. It also notes that the positive self-assessments do not necessarily reflect the reality of practice, especially given the weak disclosure and community oversight.

And among the most important recommendations presented by the report are the following:

• Adopt an updated and binding legal system for the work of the zakat committees and publish it officially.
• Develop clear policies to prevent conflicts of interest and for financial disclosure.
• Prepare and adopt codes of conduct for the chairs and members of the committees.
• Enhance transparency by publishing budgets and periodic reports.
• Activate complaint mechanisms and community accountability.
• Improve staff competence through training and capacity building.
• Improve planning and evaluation to ensure higher effectiveness in the use of zakat funds.