Lubna Masarwa & Rayhab Uddin
Middle East Eye / August 30, 2024
Resistance groups are confronting Israel and bypassing Palestinian leadership, which analysts attribute to its impotence and disunity.
A severe escalation in Israeli attacks on the occupied West Bank has left the Palestinian Authority weakened and in a state of flux, according to analysts.
This week, the Israeli army launched its largest operation in the territory in decades. In Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas, Israeli drones and snipers killed at least 17 Palestinians.
Military bulldozers ploughed into critical infrastructure, cutting off communications and resources from several Palestinian cities and refugee camps.
This is the latest move in a broader Israeli offensive, marked by almost daily arrests and killings, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.
While President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) administration frequently condemn Israel’s raids, they have been largely unable to counter them.
“The PA’s actions have been entirely negative,” Jamal Juma, a prominent Palestinian activist and analyst, told Middle East Eye.
He said that, in response to Israel’s actions, the PA has actually detained youths wanted by Israeli authorities.
“I imagine that some of the anger currently directed towards the occupation will shift towards the PA,” said Juma.
He said the administration was “being aggressive towards the Palestinian people” and was “seen as complicit in the attacks”, including by providing intelligence to Israel.
The PA, which is dominated by the Fatah political movement, employs 21 percent of the Palestinian workforce. However, it has struggled to pay salaries in recent years due to Israel withholding tax revenues.
Israel is seeking to “minimize the role of the PA” to something akin to municipalities rather than a larger political body, according to a senior Fatah member who spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity.
He explained that Israel does not want to completely dismantle the PA but aims to render it impotent.
“The Israelis want to keep the PA on its bare bones – dysfunctioning but not obsolete just yet. But the Israeli approach makes the collapse of the PA inevitable,” the Fatah figure said.
‘Reminiscent of 1948’
For many Palestinians, the latest Israeli raids on the West Bank are a manifestation of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s plan to annex the territory to Israel.
Juma said that Israel continues to limit the Palestinian presence to a minimal area, “providing alternative roads for settlers and engineering the geography of the land”.
He added that main roads were destroyed with bulldozers, while civilian infrastructure and resources were cut off.
“They are doing the same policies as in Gaza: besieging the hospitals providing medical care for injured people, cutting electricity and water, and destroying infrastructure.”
“They asked the residents of the refugee camp to leave,” he added, referring to comments made this week by Israel’s foreign minister urging Palestinians to “evacuate” their homes.
The senior Fatah figure said that “empty[ing] a large number of the residents from the West Bank” is a key objective of Israel’s far-right government.
Since 7 October 2023, more than 3,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to Israeli army demolitions of their homes.
During that same period, the United Nations recorded 1,250 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians.
At least 628 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and air strikes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between 7 October and 27 August, according to the UN.
“Every day, there are reports of killings, assaults, attacks… and organized terror gangs reminiscent of those from 1948,” said Juma.
‘Either for or against resistance’
The senior Fatah figure said resistance to Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank is causing divisions within Palestinian society and even within his own party.
“People are either for or against the resistance and this same divide is evident within Fatah,” he said.
Where Israeli aggression is heightened, he noted, the role of the PA diminishes further. Consequently, Palestinians would “take the freedom to defend themselves and to organize their affairs independently of the PA”.
He added that for the administration to gain influence and buy-in, it needs to present a strategic vision and put aside its differences with other factions.
Last month, talks were held in Beijing between rival factions Hamas and Fatah, along with over a dozen other Palestinian parties, in an effort to achieve post-war unity.
Previous attempts at unity have stalled due to disagreements over political programs and differing views on resistance against Israel.
Muhammad Manasrah, a Palestinian refugee in Al-Faraa camp in the West Bank, said many Palestinians will continue to support resistance groups despite Israel’s attacks.
“[Israel] has committed many massacres… with the goal of pressuring the resistance, in an attempt to make the streets come out against the resistance. But this will not be achieved,” Manasrah told MEE.
“There is no other way to establish the Palestinian state but with the resistance, national unity and resilience.”
Lubna Masarwa is a journalist and Middle East Eye’s Palestine and Israel bureau chief, based in Jerusalem
Rayhan Uddin is a Middle East Eye journalist based in London
