Analysis: PA’s collapse is a ‘strategic challenge’ for Israel

A senior Israeli analysts said the Palestinian Authority’s possible collapse represents a serious and strategic threat to Israel.

Major General Amos Gilad said in an article published in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that Israel does not have a multidimensional strategy to deal with the emerging reality among the Palestinians, pointing out that the Israeli policy focuses on the short term and on preventing terrorism and maintaining calm.

According to the analyst,  the main challenge to Israel that might arise in the coming years is the collapse or gradual disintegration of the Palestinian Authority, whose existence today is more fragile than it seems.

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“The idea on which the PA was established and without which it has no right to exist, is to achieve the national aspirations of the Palestinian people through negotiations and diplomacy with Israel, however this idea is weakening in the face of armed resistance proposed by Hamas,” he said.

“This trend is clearly reflected in opinion polls which show a sharp decline in the Palestinians’ confidence in the two-state solution,” Gilad said, noting that weakening the Palestinian Authority undermines the ​​two-state solution and promotes the one-state solution.

“The Palestinian Authority operates under severe financial constraints and suffers from chronic economic uncertainty, in the absence of any political prospects,” he said, noting that the United States has harmed the civil sector and UNRWA by significantly reducing international assistance to the PA.