Jenin teaches us that Palestinians need a unifying strategy to beat the occupation

The Palestinian cause is facing an existential threat as an extreme right-wing Israeli government, which includes fascists, continues in power and sees an opportunity to make substantial gains in the pursuit of a Greater Israel, while the international community looks away.

In the absence of what should be united support for a people under illegal occupation, facing the wrath of the world’s 4th military power, the Palestinians must look to themselves to find a way to end the occupation, attain their rights and see the refugees return.

What Israel’s latest attack on Jenin showed was that Palestinian factions and the Palestinian people were united in standing up to the aggression and resisting it, using the very limited tools they have in the West Bank.

That unity does not extend to the political strategy to oppose Israel’s racist policies, designed to empty the land of Palestinians in pursuit of a truly Jewish state.

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It should not be beyond the whit of Palestinian factions to meet in Ramallah or Gaza, declare an end to the division between Fatah and Hamas and to go back to the Palestinian umbrella, the PLO calling for elections to the Palestine National Council that would bring a new Council to represent Palestinians everywhere and formulate a strategy for liberation and return.

But it seems beyond the whit of the Palestinian factions to do this, to put an end to the helplessness and the weakness they transmit to the outside world, which Israel also sees and uses. Instead of meeting in Palestine, the Palestinian President has called for the General Secretaries (GSs) of the Palestinian factions to meet, and Egypt has agreed to host this meeting later this month. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether all factions will be invited, but I expect that they will be.

Over the past 18 years, there have been a multitude of meetings in Arab capitals, including Beirut, Cairo, Makkah, Doha and Algiers to end the division and formulate a liberation strategy but, while each brought lots of smiling faces, warm handshakes and statements committing the factions to the required change, each agreement failed to be implemented. The division continues. Gaza and the West Bank continue to operate under two separate administrations and Israel continues to bulldoze its way to Greater Israel. As a side note, this is exemplified in the map Bezalel Smotrich stood behind in Paris, not only swallowing up Palestine, but Jordan and parts of other Arab countries.

The task facing the GSs is immense. Since the start of 2023, nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed, including 12 in the recent attack on Jenin, tens more homes have been demolished, tens of Palestinians have been imprisoned. This morning saw the eviction of the Sub Laban family from their home in the old city of Jerusalem. Israel has announced the planned construction of thousands of settlement units, including in Jerusalem.

Whilst the year has not seen new normalisation agreements with Arab states, pressure by the Americans on Saudi Arabia to normalise is at its highest and there are indications they are looking for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year. Riyadh appears to be steadfast in its refusal to normalise with Apartheid Israel until there is a resolution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Regionally, Israel continues to be a destabilising force, attacking Syria, Lebanon and meddling in Iran.

If there was an incident that should have united the factions politically and not just militarily, it was the sight of 2,000 Palestinians being evicted from the Jenin refugee camp by Israeli forces. To most Palestinians, this brought back memories of the Nakba, when 750,000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes; most have been unable to return, to this day, with their offspring still languishing in refugee camps in Palestine and the neighbouring countries of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The question to the GSs is where do they start, and can they agree on an agenda that is both unifying and implementable, to go with the smiley pictures we will see at the end of the meeting?

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The GSs owe it to their people, the brave and resilient Palestinian people to succeed. Egypt always comes to the rescue when there is an escalation of violence against the Palestinians, particularly when Gaza is under attack. It now has a responsibility to guide the GSs towards more achievable outcomes from the meeting.

There needs to be agreement that the division is over and that an interim government is formed that is inclusive and focussed on resisting the occupation. That government must implement the decisions of the Palestine National Council and Palestine Central Council. One of the decisions taken was to derecognise Israel.  The means and implications should be studied urgently. The other is a clear withdrawal from the Oslo Accords. Israel has reneged on every aspect of Oslo; therefore, the Palestinian Authority can draw a line in the sand and say Oslo is over.

A true end to security cooperation with Israel is one of these decisions that every Palestinian would want to see. There must be an end to the holding of political prisoners both in the West Bank and Gaza. There must also be a unified strategy for resistance and, in particular, popular resistance, which Israel finds difficult to justify attacking.

The above will be again redundant unless an implementation plan is also agreed and a mechanism for monitoring its implementation is formulated.

While it is always positive to see Palestinian factions meeting, repeated let downs of the Palestinians mean that they will be sceptical about the outcome of the planned Egypt talks. Cairo should be a turning point to rescue the cause and to provide the Palestinians with hope. That places a huge responsibility on the General Secretaries of the Palestinian factions, the PLO and the Egyptian hosts.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.