Hamada Jaber: We need a complete reshuffle and a new vision of Palestinian politics, not a life of double occupation
The Palestinian Authority (PA) destroyed all the parties, organisations, movements, institutions, any possibility of resistance, and with that, it killed hope. There is no leadership. No one trusts the current one, that’s for sure. The Palestinians in the West Bank say that they are under ‘two occupations’. Some believe that we have to resolve the issues of the PA’s first, because one cannot fight having an enemy behind him. With all that corruption and division created by an authoritarian rule the Palestinians would be defeated even before reaching to any kind of negotiation table — says Hamada Jaber, a Palestinian political analyst and researcher associated with Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research (PCPSR) which is an independent non-profit institution and think tank of policy analysis and academic research.
Interview by Wojciech Albert Łobodziński.
In accordance with the 1994 Gaza–Jericho Agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority was established with a view to serving as a transitional body for a period of five years. It was hoped that further discussions between the two parties about the final status of Palestine would take place at that time. In accordance with the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring security and addressing civilian concerns in Palestine’s urban areas (“Area A”). Additionally, it was tasked with civilian matters in the country’s rural areas (“Area B”). The other regions, comprising Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region, and bypass roadways linking Palestinian communities, would remain under Israeli administration. The Accords did not include East Jerusalem.
The Authority gradually gained authority over some regions through negotiations with multiple Israeli administrations. However, during the Second Intifada, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) retook some strategically important sites. In the aftermath of the Second Intifada, Israel made the unilateral decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005. This paved the way for the Palestinian Authority to assume full administrative control over the territory, while Israel retained its authority over the border crossings, airspace, and coastal waters.
After the Palestinian parliamentary elections on 25 January 2006, Hamas put forth the candidacy of Ismail Haniyeh for the role of Prime Minister of the Authority. However, the outbreak of violence between Hamas and Fatah, largely confined to the Gaza Strip, led to a significant challenge to the national unity Palestinian administration. Following the 14 June 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the Authority, took the decision to overthrow the Hamas-led unity government, install Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister, and dismiss Haniyeh. As a result of Hamas’ refusal to acknowledge the change, there are now two distinct governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Efforts made to reconcile the Palestinian administrations so far have not succeeded.
How would you describe the Palestinian Authority before the beginning of the war in Gaza?
Shortly, I would say that it was an authority with no authority. It has been like that for a long time. If one asks why the PA still exists, I would say: it is because it serves much more the Israeli interest than Palestinian. And because it’s an authoritarian regime, that makes it difficult for the people to mobilise and try to push for reforms, for dissolution of it, or actually for anything.
The last parliamentary elections in PA took place in 2006. The presidential elections – in 2005. Since that time, Mahmud Abbas has been in power. During his time he destroyed all civil society remnants, any kind of institutions or organisations and in 2018 he even dissolved the parliament. Of course, Abbas did not have any power or legitimation to do that. In the Palestinian context, it’s very dangerous to dissolve the parliament, because, according to our basic law, once the president dies, the speaker takes his role, having two months to organise the next elections. In 2004, when Arafat died, we had a written path of succession. Now, when Abbas is 88, and the genocide against Palestinians is raging behind our windows, we do not have any kind of regulation.
What would happen then?
There is no scenario agreed by all Palestinians. Abbas directly opened the door for a civil war which could start once he dies, and the parliament remains dissolved.
Before October 7, we were at the point in which Israel could decide about anything, even the solution to the Palestinian question. There were several reasons, but one of them, a considerable one, was that the PA was weak and unrespected by its own citizens. When in 2020 some Arab countries started talking about normalising their relations with Israel, or even did that, the reaction of Abbas and his court was aggressive to say the least. When it comes to Saudi Arabia and their attitude, it became apparent just before the 7 October that they wanted normalisation, and no reaction from the Palestinian Authority could change that. With this, the fate of PA would be sealed. It is Saudi Arabia who funds the PA. And it was them who were stopping Israelis from resolving the Palestinian question in a genocidal manner.
What is the relation between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA)? For many those two appear to be somehow interchangeable, like two souls in the same body. What is the truth behind the curtains?
In theory, the PA was established by the PLO. That means that the latter should be an umbrella for the first. However, thirty years after the Oslo Accords, the PA became more important. A few years ago, the PA president issued a decree that the PLO is a unit somewhere in the PA hierarchy. There was some opposition against that, but to no effect. The PLO became a tool of the president, nothing more, nothing less.
Since Hamas won the majority in the parliamentary elections of 2006, Fatah officials started undermining both of the institutions by saying that the parliament was a part of the PA, but there was a second “parliament”, the PLO, to get again the upper hand against Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas has been saying that Fatah, and by that extent also some parts of the PA, especially after the division between Gaza and West Bank, is more than just one political party. In other words, as the main wing of the PLO, it is supposed to represent much more than just its own political position.
But it is more complicated. All the other parties inside the PLO are very small in numbers. Some of them don’t count more than 10 members! They are just using the historical name, and the heritage that comes with the PLO. Abbas is using the leaders of these parties by saying: OK, you are a small party, you are nothing, but I will make your people someone.
A diplomatic official? A minister?
Or an ambassador. This way he can still manage all the parties and uphold the name of PLO. At the same time, he can easily play them against each other by inviting one person and not another, or just sowing disagreements. There are no rules, no management culture, nothing.
At the same time the policies of “cooperation” with the IDF and the Israeli administration is coming straight from the Fatah.
Yes, eventually, this is how it works. This is the so-called “security cooperation”. The Palestinian Authority must inform Israelis about any kind of uproar or resistance, including political resistance, against Israel or the PA itself. Occasionally, it has to do the “job” – to arrest people or to send the Palestinian police against demonstrations. More often, it provides the IDF with information.
Now in the midst of the war, the whole thing is not about the unpopularity of the PA among Palestinians, but most importantly about the indecisiveness. In 2021, during the last confrontation between Hamas and Israel, the PA announced that it had suspended the “security agreements”. Not even one single Palestinian believed it really happened… But at least something was said.
And what is happening right now?
During the ongoing genocide, we have not heard any kind of announcement of that kind. The “security cooperation” continues. We see Israeli soldiers and agents every day, every night just outside our doors with the PA’s police doing their bidding. Beyond 10 thousand people were kidnapped, more than 600 killed. At the same time, the PA is apparently providing intelligence, information, intel to Israel and probably deliver it to the IDF’s agents. In the times of genocide, the Palestinians wouldn’t accept the PA doing the “job” itself, so the Israelis have taken this “mantle”. I do not have any proof of that, but since the “agreements” on security were not dissolved after the 7 October, I believe that this is precisely what is happening right now.
I heard people saying that there hasn’t been any kind of solidarity uprising in the West Bank because Abbas believes that the West Bank would share the Gaza’s fate. Namely, that there would be complete destruction and genocide. What do you think about this perspective?
The situation in the West Bank is complicated. For the last 15 years, the PA, and Israel have been working together to diminish any kind of perspective for the resistance, political or military, against the occupation. The IDF has been operating here military at a high level even before the 7th of October, you cannot have any delusions about it.
Every time they felt that they had to curb the opposition or just intimidate people, they did it, with no explanation, no excuses. Time by time, time by time… We are talking about two authorities that have been managing the whole population and territory, economy and politics. It’s really hard for anyone to organise resistance, since there are two different actors pointing guns at you.
Ramallah Al-Manara square (source)
The West Bank situation in its complexity had already been rough before the 7 October. The PA destroyed all the parties, organisations, movements, institutions, any possibility of resistance, and with that, it killed hope. There is no leadership. No one trusts the current one, that’s for sure. The Palestinians in the West Bank say that they are under “two occupations”. Some believe that we have to resolve the issues of the PA’s first, because one cannot fight having an enemy behind him. Others add that with all that corruption and division created by an authoritarian rule, they would be defeated even before reaching to any kind of negotiation table.
The First Intifada erupted because of the direct contact between people and Israeli occupiers. The IDF soldiers were all over the place, one could meet them in the city square every day. Now it’s the PA’s police and security forces. You need to walk a few kilometres to reach an Israeli outpost or settlement. We have seen some clashes between the demonstrators and PA’s forces, but people were reluctant to continue or escalate because it would lead to a civil war. And we need to avoid this scenario at all costs.
But as you said, there is no opposition in the West Bank.
We were talking about Fatah and the PLO, but as I said, there are no other parties here. Perhaps I could mention the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but it is small and largely inactive. The other parties do not exist. Hamas, especially since it started to control Gaza in 2005, has suffered Fatah’s countermeasures in the West Bank. All possible connections between the local people and the Hamas political movement or military wings have been targeted. Therefore, an organised opposition just does not exist.
How you perceive the latest development, or the agreements between Hamas, Fatah and other organisations made in China under the patronage of Xi Jinping? And later the visit of president Abbas in Moscow and Ankara?
These moves are meaningless for the Palestinians. People are making jokes about Abbas and his visits, and especially his statement about going to Gaza. He has done all of that because he is not in the game any more. He does not have any popularity, legitimacy, or anything else.
Anthony Blinken used to visit Ramallah, Abbas residency, during his endeavours towards ceasefire. But lately, he has just ignored him. I think Abbas does these moves to suggest that he is still here, capable of action. But this is not the case.
When it comes to reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, it was obvious that Fatah and Abbas were the side rejecting this scenario. Fatah has had many conditions regarding the organisation of the new parliament elections, and every time Hamas agreed to them. You might remember that Abbas decided to organise the elections in May 2021, three years ago. There were many indicators that Hamas was up to the whole project of unifying different branches of the Palestinian political spectrum. At the same time, who was likely to lose more? Of course, Fatah. The polls before the war already favoured Hamas, now they enjoy even wider support.
Nevertheless, the main excuse for the 2021 parliamentary elections given by Fatah was that Israel would not have allowed the people of Jerusalem to take part. Hamas and others replied that it was still necessary to make it a peaceful battle, to impose the elections by our presence and unity. Abbas rejected it, but it appeared that he tried to impose some international pressure on the Israelis.
But there was also something else. In May 2021, Fatah prepared not one electoral list, but three of them! This showed us that Abbas did not kill only the civil society, but the Fatah itself. Three different registered lists of Fatah meant that the party was already strongly divided. Hamas with one list definitely would have won a strong majority. In the end, Israel did not give Palestinians the opportunity to vote, not wishing to see Hamas emerging victorious and with a strong mandate.
And then a new war started.
Exactly. One might wonder whether Hamas’ aim was not to make a point about the whole situation regarding the ballot. This war happened ten days after Abbas decided to cancel the election. I think that it was a response to that. It was a message saying: “we tried, we did our best to reconcile with Fatah, but it didn’t work, now the only tool we have is imposing a new crisis”. We saw some signs from the president and his team that they got it, they called an emergency meeting and suspended the “security coordination”. They saw that Hamas was serious about it, but Abbas was not. He just wanted to manage the situation and then restore the status quo. For Fatah, it’s much easier than working on any kind of unification.
Palestinian women waiting in the Qalandiya checkpoint (source)
What about the institutions, the PA parliament, and even the question of succession?
They believe that it will be OK. “Even if the president dies tomorrow, all will be fine” — their actions speak to it themselves. They impose this belief on themselves.
But why?!
This long continuation of the current state of occupation from two sides, as we call it here in Ramallah, is working in their favour. They are reaping financial and political benefits by holding on to power, even if no one respects them.
Abbas’s elites are convinced that they will be able to cope with the situation that will follow his death. They even seem to believe that they will be able to stabilise the Palestinian Authority without the help of Hamas and without its institutional presence in the West Bank.
It sounds like a death wish, an outright invitation to Israeli troops to “contain the situation”.
As I said, this would end in a civil war.
Hamada Jaber (private archive)
How do you see the future of Palestinian Authority and political life in Palestine?
In a recent poll, around 70% of Palestinians see PA as a burden, and 62% support a dissolution of the Authority even though it is the biggest employer and services provider. And, which is probably even more important, despite that there is no plan of action after the dissolution. I believe that if there was any person that could provide a realistic plan of action, people would gather around him or her.
This is what Palestinians need now — a leadership that can lead them and create a feasible political project with the whole nation backing it. The polls prove that the Oslo Accords and the two-state solution are no more trusted by anyone in the Palestinian society.
What’s more, when the Oslo Accords were signed 30 years ago, the Palestinian leaders actually admitted that there were different categories of people in the same nation. They divided the Palestinians. And the differences between Palestinians living in the West Bank, in Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip, the distinctive disparities between them are also a massive political factor that is being exploited by Israel. All of these people live in completely separate realities imposed on them by Israel. What we need to is a new, uniting strategy that would apply to all of our people.
That would be an entirely new approach.
Of course. We require a new leadership to unite Palestinians, and there is no one to be seen, for the reasons highlighted above. A singular group alone cannot accomplish anything, no matter whether it comes from the West Bank, from the inside of Israel, or from Gaza. The Palestinians live in different realities, but to win freedom, we need to somehow unite them and fight for our destiny together. The whole concept of one-state solution was about that.
Before October 7, I believed in this concept. Currently, I just don’t know. What has been going on since that day is something that we still must comprehend. It’s something unimaginable and the time that has passed is just too short to understand.
Do you see any way to address it politically?
At the end of the day, the only realistic option — despite what’s happening now — would be leaving behind the two-state solution that is already dead. Thus, we need an alternative. One-state solution used to be such an alternative. Before 7 October, I thought that if we were united, we could successfully struggle for it through non-violent resistance. But now, with the genocide going on, I do not know. All possibilities are open this time.
What’s going on in Gaza now was actually planned for the West Bank even before the 7 October. It has been the main plan of the current government. They always wanted to expel as many Westbankers as they could to Jordan or wherever, and establish here the Israeli state. We felt it, and we are feeling it right now.
They want to impose it on us here, just because they wish so. There is no Hamas here, but nevertheless anyone who opposes them is getting killed. The violence rises from day to day, week to week, it is just getting worse. After the 7 October the priorities were change and the Gaza Strip is being destroyed first, and the West Bank next. Nevertheless, our fate will be the same if we do not unite and do something against it.
Hamada Jaber is a Palestinian political analyst and researcher born in Jerusalem. He holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from S. Rajaratnam School of International Relations School (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, 2023. He also holds a master’s degree in Peacekeeping & Security Studies from the Faculty of Political Science in Roma Tre University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The Arab American University, 2006, Palestine. He is associated with Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research (PCPSR), an independent non-profit institution and think tank. The Center was founded with the goal of advancing scholarship and knowledge on immediate issues of concern to Palestinians in three areas: domestic politics and government, strategic analysis and foreign policy, and public opinion polls and survey research. Hamada Jaber is also a political activist and co-founder and a volunteer board member in One State Foundation (OSF), a foundation officially established in 2017 in the Netherlands and has Palestinian, Israelis, and International members and supporters to promote one-state solution among Palestinians and Israelis and the international actors.
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