[News] The Resistance vs. the Palestinian Authority: Will Abbas lead Palestinians to civil war?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230717-the-resistance-vs-the-palestinian-authority-will-abbas-lead-palestinians-to-civil-war/>
The Resistance vs. the Palestinian Authority: Will Abbas lead Palestinians
to civil war?
Dr Ramzy Baroud - July 17, 2023
------------------------------
[image: image.png]

This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President,
Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not.

Abbas' brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern
Occupied West Bank on 12 July demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the
PA and its 87-year-old leader.

As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as
a 'solidarity' visit to the camp.

Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly
chanting Abbas' name. Some looked on with disappointment
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66175600?at_bbc_team=editorial&at_link_id=0B1DD9C8-20CA-11EE-926E-5ED15B3BE886&at_link_origin=BBCWorld&at_link_type=web_link&at_format=link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptr_name=twitter>;
others asked where the President's forces were when Israel invaded the
camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting hundreds more.

The *BBC* reported
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66175600?at_bbc_team=editorial&at_link_id=0B1DD9C8-20CA-11EE-926E-5ED15B3BE886&at_link_origin=BBCWorld&at_link_type=web_link&at_format=link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptr_name=twitter>
on a "huge armed deployment" to secure Abbas' visit, where "PA security
forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas' elite presidential
guard". Their only job was to "clear a path" for Abbas into the camp.

On the initial and most deadly first day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin,
Israeli media, citing military sources, said that 1,000 Israeli soldiers
<https://themedialine.org/by-region/abbas-pledges-to-rebuild-jenin-refugee-camp-after-major-israeli-operation/>
were taking part in the military operation.

Yet, it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas' brief visit to
Jenin.

*WATCH: Palestine President visits Jenin after Israel attack
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230712-palestine-president-visits-jenin-after-israel-attack/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=653193&relatedposts_position=0>*

Indeed, where were those well-dressed and equipped PA soldiers when Jenin
was fighting and dying alone?  And why does Abbas need to be protected from
his own people?

To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts,
three significant dates in particular:

On 5 July, Israel ended its military operation in Jenin.

On 9 July, despite protests by some of his security cabinet members,
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-israel-work-prevent-any-collapse-palestinian-authority-2023-07-09/>
that Israel would do its utmost to prevent the collapse of the PA. He stated
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-israel-work-prevent-any-collapse-palestinian-authority-2023-07-09/>
outright that the PA "works for us".

And, finally, on 12 July, Abbas visited Jenin with a stern message to
Palestinian Resistance groups.

These three dates are directly related: Israel's failed raid on Jenin has
heightened the significance of the PA in Israel's eyes. Abbas visited Jenin
to reassure Israel that his Authority is up for the task.

To live up to Israel's expectations and to ensure its survival, the PA is
willing to clash directly with Palestinians who refuse to toe the line.

"There will be one Authority and one security force," Abbas declared
angrily, only days following the burial of Jenin's victims. "Anyone who
seeks to undermine its unity and security will face the consequences," he
added, further promising that "Any hand that reaches out to harm the people
and their stability shall be cut off."

The hand in reference is not that of Israel, but any Palestinian who
resists Israel.

Abbas knows that Palestinians outright despise him and his Authority. Just
days earlier, Fatah party deputy Chairman, Mahmoud Aloul, was removed
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/?post_type=liveblog_entry&p=3046745> from
Jenin by angry crowds.

The crowds chanted in unison, "get out", to Aloul and two other PA
officials.

They did, but Abbas returned to the same scene. He was flown
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66175600> in a Jordanian
military helicopter. Waiting for him, below, was a small PA army that had
taken over the streets and the high buildings – or whatever remained of
them – in the destroyed camp.

All of this happened through logistical arrangements with the Israeli
military.

But why is Netanyahu keen on the PA's survival?

Netanyahu wants the PA to survive simply because he does not want the
Israeli occupation administration and military to be fully responsible for
the welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank and the security of the
illegal settlers.

Despite its near complete failure, the Oslo Accords succeeded in one thing:
it provided Israel with a Palestinian force whose main mission is to assist
the Israeli occupation in its quest to maintain total control over the West
Bank.

Abbas' trip to Jenin was intended to reassure Tel Aviv that the PA is still
committed to its obligations to Israel.

Another message was sent to US President Joe Biden, who has, in a recent
interview, cast doubts on the PA's 'credibility'.  "The PA is losing its
credibility," Biden told *CNN*, and that has "created a vacuum for
extremism."

The message to Washington was that the hands of the so-called 'extremists'
will be "cut off", and that there will be "consequences" for those who defy
the PA's will.

*READ: **900 Palestinians homes damaged in Israel attack on Jenin*
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230712-900-palestinians-homes-damaged-in-israel-attack-on-jenin/>

Abbas seemed to speak, not only on behalf of his Authority but that of Tel
Aviv and Washington as well.

Even ordinary Palestinians understand this to be the case; in fact, they
always have. The only difference now is that they feel strong and
emboldened by a new generation of Resistance which has succeeded in
reclaiming a degree of Palestinian unity, amid factional politics and PA
corruption.

The PA is now seen by most Palestinians as the obstacle in the face of full
unity. That position is fully fathomable. While Israel was ramping up its
deadly operations in Jenin and Nablus, the PA police was arresting
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230711-islamic-jihad-political-arrests-in-west-bank-may-lead-to-failure-of-factions-meeting-in-cairo/>
Palestinian activists, angering Resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

If this continues, a civil war in the West Bank is a real possibility,
especially as Abbas' potential successors are equally distrusted, even by
Fatah's own rank and file. These men were also in Jenin, standing shoulder
to shoulder behind Abbas as he was frantically trying to lay out the new
rules.

This time around, Palestinians are unlikely to listen. For the Resistance,
the stakes are too high to back down now. For the PA, losing the West Bank
means losing billions of dollars of Western financial handouts.

A clash between the Resistance and their popular support, on the one hand,
and the West-Israel-backed PA forces, on the other, will prove very costly
for Palestinians.

Yet, for Tel Aviv, it is a win-win. This is why Netanyahu is anxious to
help Abbas keep his job, at least long enough to ensure that the post-Abbas
transition goes through efficiently.

Palestinians must find a way to block such designs, preserve Palestinian
blood and restructure their leadership, so that it represents them, not the
interests of the Israeli occupation.

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