[3] Al-Shabaka was registered in California in 2009 as the Middle East Policy Network, doing business as Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, and granted 501(c)(3) by the US Internal Revenue Service in 2013.
[4] According to Cherine Hussein, an academic based at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, Al-Shabaka's launch was a "significant initiative" by "[Palestinian] intellectuals".
[5] and was launched "to put a stronger Palestinian policy voice on the map".
[6] Its work "is primarily directed to concerned Palestinians as well as Arab and international policy communities.
"[7] In a 2021 scholarly literature review, anthropologist Sa'ed Atshan cites Al-Shabaka as a "potential future addition" to the "ecosystem" of anthropology of Palestine.