The Palestinian Authority has ruled the West Bank for a quarter of a century, but its future looks bleak.
The authority was created as a result of the 1990s Oslo Peace Process. In exchange for Western backing and support, the authority, then headed by Palestine Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat, promised to renounce terrorism and to resolve outstanding issues with Israel in bilateral negotiations. However, Arafat, who also headed the Fatah movement, broke his promises.
As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, or CAMERA, documented, Arafat misspent Western and Israeli goodwill. He snuck wanted terrorists into areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control. He colluded with other organizations in perpetrating terror attacks that destroyed the peace process.
Arafat died in 2004 and was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO’s longtime foreign emissary and a colorless apparatchik. Abbas lacked Arafat’s popularity and terrorist bona fides, so he has compensated by making the Palestinian Authority even more authoritarian. After losing the 2006 elections to Fatah’s chief rival, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority lost control of the Gaza Strip following a brief and bloody war.
It looks increasingly likely, however, that Abbas’s Fatah movement, which controls both the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, might lose control of the West Bank, as well. Yet, many Western policymakers and press outlets seem unwilling to confront that possibility.
An octogenarian in the 16th year of a four-year term, Abbas has reacted poorly to the growing dissatisfaction of many Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority hasn’t held elections in 16 years, and its legislative council hasn’t met in more than a decade. Criticism of the regime is often met with imprisonment, savage beatings, and death threats. Economic conditions are poor, and Abbas has steadfastly refused to end the Palestinian Authority’s policy of paying salaries to terrorists.
In January 2021, as part of a strategy to appeal to the Biden administration, Abbas promised finally to hold elections. But when polls showed that Abbas was likely to lose to Hamas, he canceled the elections. With key support from its Iranian benefactor, Hamas responded by launching missiles into Israel, sparking a war. In truth, however, Hamas wasn’t just attacking the Jewish state — it was also seeking control of the West Bank.
As Middle East analyst Jonathan Schanzer documents in his new book, Gaza Conflict 2021, Hamas and Iran lost their latest war against Israel. But on another front — the one aimed at displacing Abbas and Fatah — Hamas is making inroads. But Hamas couldn’t do it without the Palestinian Authority, which continues to be its own worst enemy.
The last week has seen West Bank family feuds erupting into violence, and the Palestinian Authority has been unable to stop it.
Universities under its rule, such as Hebron University and Al-Quds University, have had to close temporarily due to violent brawls and shootings. Several Palestinians have been killed. Neighborhoods and homes have been set on fire. Some residents of Hebron have even appealed to King Abdullah of Jordan to send troops to end the street-fighting, claiming that the Palestinian Authority has “lost control of the situation.”
As the journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has noted, the Palestinian Authority has responded by cracking down on Hamas operatives in the West Bank, claiming that they “crossed all red lines and are conspiring against the Palestinian leadership.” Palestinian Authority security forces have continued to imprison Palestinian journalists, most recently Naseem al Mualla, who has been sent to the notorious Jericho prison nicknamed the “slaughterhouse.”
A recent funeral for Wasfi Kabaha, a critic of Abbas and a former Palestinian Authority minister, prompted thousands of Hamas supporters to turn out in the West Bank town of Jenin. Hamas officials cheered the large showing, with one calling it a “message to all those who challenge Hamas and try to discourage it from continuing in its path.”
Hamas believes that the West Bank is ripe for the taking. It might be right.
Sean Durns is a senior research analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis
