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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The Resistance vs. the Palestinian Authority: Will Abbas lead Palestinians to civil war?</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Dr Ramzy Baroud - July 17, 2023</div></div>
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<img src="cid:ii_lk8t96el0" alt="image.png" width="415" height="277"><br><p>This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as a 'solidarity' visit to the camp.</p>
<p>Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas' name. Some looked on with <a href="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" target="_blank">disappointment</a>; others asked where the President's forces were when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting hundreds more.</p>
<p>The <i>BBC</i> <a href="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" target="_blank">reported</a>
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.</p>
<p>On the initial and most deadly first day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, Israeli media, citing military sources, said that <a href="https://themedialine.org/by-region/abbas-pledges-to-rebuild-jenin-refugee-camp-after-major-israeli-operation/" target="_blank">1,000 Israeli soldiers</a> were taking part in the military operation.</p>
<p>Yet, it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas' brief visit to Jenin.</p>
<p><strong><a title="Palestine President visits Jenin after Israel attack" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230712-palestine-president-visits-jenin-after-israel-attack/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=653193&relatedposts_position=0">WATCH: Palestine President visits Jenin after Israel attack</a></strong></p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts, three significant dates in particular:</p>
<p>On 5 July, Israel ended its military operation in Jenin.</p>
<p>On 9 July, despite protests by some of his security cabinet members, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-israel-work-prevent-any-collapse-palestinian-authority-2023-07-09/" target="_blank">declared</a> that Israel would do its utmost to prevent the collapse of the PA. He <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-israel-work-prevent-any-collapse-palestinian-authority-2023-07-09/" target="_blank">stated</a> outright that the PA "works for us".</p>
<p>And, finally, on 12 July, Abbas visited Jenin with a stern message to Palestinian Resistance groups.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>The hand in reference is not that of Israel, but any Palestinian who resists Israel.</p>
<p>Abbas knows that Palestinians outright despise him and his Authority.
Just days earlier, Fatah party deputy Chairman, Mahmoud Aloul, was <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/?post_type=liveblog_entry&p=3046745" target="_blank">removed</a> from Jenin by angry crowds.</p>
<p>The crowds chanted in unison, "get out", to Aloul and two other PA officials.</p>
<p>They did, but Abbas returned to the same scene. He was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66175600" target="_blank">flown</a>
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.</p>
<p>All of this happened through logistical arrangements with the Israeli military.</p>
<p>But why is Netanyahu keen on the PA's survival?</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Abbas' trip to Jenin was intended to reassure Tel Aviv that the PA is still committed to its obligations to Israel.</p>
<p>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 <i>CNN</i>, and that has "created a vacuum for extremism."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><b>READ: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230712-900-palestinians-homes-damaged-in-israel-attack-on-jenin/"><b>900 Palestinians homes damaged in Israel attack on Jenin</b></a></p>
<p>Abbas seemed to speak, not only on behalf of his Authority but that of Tel Aviv and Washington as well.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230711-islamic-jihad-political-arrests-in-west-bank-may-lead-to-failure-of-factions-meeting-in-cairo/">arresting</a> Palestinian activists, angering Resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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