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PA's situation is bad, battle to succeed Abbas has started, experts warn

August 15, 2022 at 10:39 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank on 10 February 2022 [MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/POOL/AF/Getty Images]

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is in a bad state and the battle to succeed Mahmoud Abbas has already started, Rai Al-Youm reported Israeli writers and reports saying yesterday.

An article published by Haaretz stated that the battle to find Abbas’ successor has already started, with Israeli influence and deterrence on the PA “limited”.

The newspaper noted that the right-wing Israeli politicians use their hostility towards Abbas for factional interests, and the security institution sees Abbas as a “strict ideological opponent of Israel and is involved in a strife against it on the political international arena.”

The Israeli daily charged Abbas with supporting “terror” as he pays salaries to prisoners, martyrs and their families. It expected Abbas’ successors to follow in his footsteps in this regard in order to gain popular support.

Meanwhile, Haaretz claimed that Hamas, Abbas’ rival, has achieved gains through the latest Israeli offensive on Gaza as Israel rewarded its neutral stance with a return of Gaza’s labourers to Israel and promised to expand the policy of easing the siege.

Hamas’ next move is critical: Palestinian resistance faces greatest test yet

Arab48 said the PA has agreed to work as a contractor for the Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank for economic gains, but the economic gap between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas, has been narrowed.

Hamas, according to Arab48, is making gains without conceding its ideology or being involved in direct talks with the occupation.

Haaretz added that a new generation of PA supporters is now coming of age, they do not remember what Israel did in Jenin in 2002 and have not felt the full power of Israel’s army. It highlighted the increased armed attacks on Israeli targets adding that it expects a political process between the PA and the Israeli occupation in the near future.

Where was Hamas during Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza?