[News] Fragmenting a Nation: Israel's Enduring Pursuit of Palestinian Disunity

[Anti-Imperialist News]

counterpunch.org
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/18/fragmenting-a-nation-israels-enduring-pursuit-of-palestinian-disunity/>
Fragmenting a Nation: Israel's Enduring Pursuit of Palestinian Disunity
Ramzy Baroud
July 18, 2025
------------------------------

Image by Dylan Shaw.

Israel is aggressively implementing plans to shape Palestine’s future and
the broader region, sculpting its vision for the ‘day after’ its genocide
in Gaza.

The latest, bizarre iteration of this strategy proposes fragmenting the
occupied West Bank into so-called ’emirates,’ starting with the ’emirate of
Hebron.’

This unexpected twist in Israel’s protracted search for alternative
Palestinian leadership first surfaced
<https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-palestinian-offer-peace-israel-hebron-sheikh-emirate-36dd39c3>
in the staunchly pro-Israeli US newspaper, the Wall Street Journal. It then
quickly dominated all Israeli media.

The report details a letter from a person identified by the WSJ as “the
leader of Hebron’s most influential clan.” Addressed to Nir Barakat,
Jerusalem’s former Israeli mayor, the letter from Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari
appeals for “cooperation with Israel” in the name of “co-existence.”

This “co-existence,” according to the “clan leader”, would materialize in
the “Emirate of Hebron.” This “emirate” would “recognize the State of
Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” in exchange for
reciprocal recognition
<https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-palestinian-offer-peace-israel-hebron-sheikh-emirate-36dd39c3>
of the “Emirate of Hebron as the Representative of the Arab residents in
the Hebron District.”

The story may seem perplexing. This is because Palestinian discourse,
regardless of geography or political affiliation, has never entertained
such an absurd concept as united West Bank “emirates.”

Another element of absurdity is that Palestinian national identity and
pride in their people’s unwavering resilience, especially in Gaza, are at
an unprecedented apex. To float such clan-based alternatives to legitimate
Palestinian leadership seems ill-conceived and is destined to fail.

Israel’s desperation is palpable. In Gaza, it cannot
<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-military-spokesman-hamas-defeated-netanyahu-war-gaza-rcna157991>
defeat Hamas and other Palestinian factions who have resisted the Israeli
takeover of the Strip for 21 months. All attempts to engineer an
alternative Palestinian leadership there have utterly collapsed.

This failure has compelled Israel to arm and fund a criminal gang that
operated before October 7, 2023, in Gaza. This gang functions
<https://www.euronews.com/2025/07/10/exclusive-new-militia-emerges-in-gaza-to-challenge-hamas-control>
under the command of Yasser Abu Shabab.

The gang has been implicated in a litany of violent activities. These
include hijacking
<https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250607-israel-admits-support-anti-hamas-armed-group-accused-looting-gaza-aid-bedouin-abu-shabab>
humanitarian aid to perpetuate famine in Gaza and orchestrating violence
associated with aid distribution, among other egregious crimes.

Like the clan leader of Hebron, the Abu Shabab criminal gang possesses no
legitimacy and no public support among Palestinians. But why would Israel
resort to such disreputable figures when the Palestinian Authority (PA),
already engaged in “security coordination” with Israel in the West Bank, is
ostensibly willing
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/29/palestinian-authority-arrest-campaign-one-of-the-worst-in>
to comply?

The answer lies in the current Israeli extremist government’s adamant
refusal to acknowledge Palestinians as a nation. Thus, even a collaborating
Palestinian nationalist entity would be deemed problematic from an Israeli
perspective.

While Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is not the first Israeli leadership
to explore clan-based alternatives among Palestinians, the Israeli prime
minister and his extremist allies are exceptionally determined to dismantle
any Palestinian claim to nationhood. This was explicitly stated by
extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He famously declared
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/palestinians-an-invention-of-past-century-israel-smotrich>
in Paris, in March 2023, that a Palestinian nation is an “invention.”

Thus, despite the PA’s willingness to cooperate with Israel in controlling
Gaza, Israel remains apprehensive. Empowering the PA as a nationalist model
fundamentally contravenes Israel’s overarching objectives of denying the
Palestinian people their very claim to nationhood and, consequently,
statehood and sovereignty.

Though Israel has consistently failed to establish and sustain its own
alternative Palestinian leadership, its repeated efforts have invariably
proven disruptive and violent.

Prior to the Nakba of 1948, the Zionist movement, alongside British
authorities colonizing Palestine, heavily invested in undermining the Arab
Higher Committee <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arab-Higher-Committee>,
a nationalist body comprising several political parties. They achieved this
by empowering collaborating clans, hoping to dilute the Palestinian
nationalist movement.

When Israel occupied the remainder of historic Palestine in 1967, it
reverted to the same divide-and-conquer tactics. For instance, it
established a Palestinian police force directly commanded by Israeli
military administrations, in addition to creating an underground network of
collaborators.

Following the overwhelming victory of nationalist candidates in the 1976
elections
<https://wikipedia.nucleos.com/viewer/wikipedia_en_all/A/1976_West_Bank_local_elections>
in occupied Palestine, Israel responded by cracking down on PLO-affiliated
politicians, arresting, deporting and assassinating some.

Two years later, in 1978, it launched
<https://www.memri.org/reports/story-palestinian-village-leagues> its
‘Village Leagues’ project. It hand-picked compliant traditional figures,
designating them as the legitimate representatives of Palestinians.

These individuals, armed, protected and financed by the Israeli occupation
army, were positioned to represent their respective clans in Hebron,
Bethlehem, Ramallah, Gaza and elsewhere.

Palestinians immediately denounced them as collaborators. They were widely
boycotted and socially ostracized.

Eventually, it became evident that Israel had no alternative but to engage
directly with the PLO. This culminated in the Oslo Accords
<https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo> in 1993 and the
subsequent formation of the PA.

The fundamental problem, however, persisted: the PA’s insistence on a
Palestinian state remains anathema to an Israel that has shifted
dramatically to the right.

This explains Netanyahu’s government’s unwavering insistence
<https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202502/1328614.shtml> that the PA has no
role in Gaza in any ‘day after’ scenario. While the PA could serve Israel’s
interest in containing the rebellious Strip, such a triumph would
inevitably recenter the discussion of a Palestinian state—a concept
repugnant to most Israelis.

There is no doubt that neither the Abu Shabab gang nor the Hebron emirate
will govern Palestinians, either in Gaza or the West Bank. Israel’s
insistence on fabricating these alternatives, however, underscores its
historic determination to deny Palestinians any sense of nationhood.

Israel’s persistent fantasies of control invariably fail. Despite their
profound wounds, Palestinians are more unified than ever, their collective
identity and nationhood hardened by relentless resistance and countless
sacrifices.

*Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He
is the author of five books. His latest is “**These Chains Will Be Broken*
<https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092>*:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity
Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the
Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU).
His website is **www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>
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