Who is responsible for the weakness of the PA?

It is Huwara, again, and it always is, and all the Palestinian cities and camps in the West Bank, with Jerusalem at its heart.

On the day the delegations were in Aqaba, Jordan, discussing the file of the dangerous Israeli escalation in the West Bank, and assigning commitments to the Palestinian and Israeli sides, to prevent the deterioration of conditions in the West Bank, the settlers were committing a massacre in Huwara, and the army was there, too. This was along with the non-stop Israeli screams warning of a comprehensive and armed Intifada in the West Bank, all of which is just an excuse to commit more crime and prepare the field, in which Israel expects and seeks to resolve the conflict, again and again. 

Since the beginning of the year, the Israelis have been preoccupied with a struggle over the judicial amendments, which will turn Israel into a dictatorship and deepen its racist-fascist approach. However, you do not hear any official statements by any party opposing the policy adopted by the government and settlers towards the Palestinians.

Bezalel Smotrich, the Minister of Finance and Defence, calls on the government and the army to restore deterrence in the West Bank, as if the Palestinians in the West Bank are responsible for the loss of Israeli deterrence. 

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Smotrich also calls on the army to regain the initiative to attack, as if it adheres to a policy of defence only towards Palestinian Resistance fighters, who possess light weapons but have a strong will to defend the rights of the people.

The truth of the matter is that the army is playing a defensive role, but it is a role defending the settlers and settlements and defending the Occupation and its criminal and racist policies. It is a defence of racism as defined by international laws, values and decisions.

The Israeli army is based primarily on aggression, attacking and destroying the other and committing all forms of war crimes and humanitarian crimes against the Palestinian people and the peoples of the region. History attests to this.

There is no point in counting on meetings that may be repeated, after the Aqaba and Sharm Al-Sheikh meetings, to try to reduce escalation and strengthen the Palestinian Authority. Despite what was agreed upon, the US did not exercise any level of pressure on the Netanyahu government.

The US administration had asked the Netanyahu government to provide accommodation in order to strengthen the PA and its role, and to enable it to contain what they call “chaos”, but that was not successful, and it is unlikely that the PA will get such an opportunity again.

The basic issue is that Israel, with its policies, terror and support for settlers, encouraging them to take up arms, and commit repeated acts of violence against the Palestinians, is exclusively responsible for weakening the PA.

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The PA is suffering from an exacerbating financial crisis, caused by the official Israeli piracy of clearing funds and, no one, Arab or foreign, is willing to compensate for these stolen funds.

Perhaps the PA would not need compensation to fill the huge gap caused by Israeli piracy, if there was the potential for international justice to restore rights but, in the absence of both of these things, talk of Israeli “accommodations” will remain empty talk.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and, before him, Smotrich, has decided to allocate 120 million shekels to support settlements in Jerusalem, and the government passed a “five-year plan” to control the Palestinian capital. Is this being considered when talking about the weakness or strength of the PA?

We fully understand the aspects of the policy included in President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the meeting of the General Secretaries in the new city of El Alamein, and we understand that changing this policy, as required by the Israeli racist and terrorist policy, cannot be done so quickly and easily.

We also understand that the PA’s commitment to this policy leads to an improvement in the image of Palestine at the international level and may achieve more diplomatic and human rights achievements for Palestine and that such achievements constitute point victories over the Occupation, even if it will continue to resist every decision or international effort in this regard.

However, is it possible to understand that the PA also considers the resistance in the West Bank the reason or a major reason for its weak role?

Israel wants to strengthen the PA on the security level, since it continues its “security coordination” and attempts to contain the Resistance, but Israel is working to ensure that the PA’s role does not exceed that of any local body and has no political aspect.

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The reality of the situation indicates and confirms that neither the suppression of the Occupation nor the attacks of the settlers, or attempts to contain the Resistance would contain this Resistance as long as the Occupation continues its terror and expands the circle of its oppression of the Palestinians.

Actual experience shows that the Jenin Brigade was acting on its own about a year ago, so what led to the emergence of brigades in Nablus, Qalqilya, Jericho, Tulkarm and Bethlehem? It is also likely that the rest of the Palestinian cities, villages and towns will also join the brigade path. 

The PA is not the one that bears responsibility for the expansion of the circle of resistance, nor does Iran, Hamas, or any other party. Rather, it is Israel and those who support it who bear responsibility for the escalation of resistance.

We, as Palestinians, should not expect a change in the political agendas of the active Palestinian forces, even if we hope so. However, there is a possibility and need to achieve a comprehensive national consensus regarding the escalation of resistance, even as a matter of self-defence.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Ayyam on 21 August 2023

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