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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/meet-israels-man-ramallah">electronicintifada.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Meet Israel's "man in Ramallah"</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">May 7, 2025</div>
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<span><img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2025-05/hussein-al-sheikh.jpeg?itok=11ik6CvS&timestamp=1746627979" width="473" height="267" alt="A man in military uniform shakes hands with a man in a suit" title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;"></span><p>Hussein al-Sheikh (right) shaking hands with the Israeli occupaton. (<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-palestinians-sign-deal-to-jointly-improve-west-bank-water-supply/">COGAT</a>)</p><p>The
Palestinian Authority, Israel\u2019s collaborationist entity in the West
Bank, last month appointed a vice president for the first time.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://husseinalsheikh.com/en/cv/">former colonel</a> in a
brutal PA \u201csecurity\u201d agency, Hussein al-Sheikh is now widely seen as
heir apparent to the crumbling regime of Mahmoud Abbas \u2013 who is 89 years
old.</p>
<p>Abbas\u2019 elected term as president of the PA expired more than 16 years ago and he has since then repeatedly canceled elections \u2013 <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/palestinian-authority-has-become-irrelevant">which polls indicate</a> he would lose to Hamas.</p>
<p>Israel and its backers in the US and Europe have long feared that,
without a clear successor, the death of Abbas could lead to the collapse
of the PA.</p>
<p>Speaking in private in 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/palestinian-authority-does-our-job-us-says-netanyahu">explicitly said</a>
that \u201cwe need the Palestinian Authority \u2026 we cannot allow it to
collapse.\u201d The Israeli prime minister explained that wherever the
Palestinian Authority is successfully operating in an area, \u201cit does our
job for us\u201d there.</p>
<p>In a mostly sympathetic <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/31/palestine-hussein-al-sheikh-nationalism-fatah-west-bank-palestinian-authority-israel/">profile of al-Sheikh</a> published by <em>Foreign Policy</em> in 2023, the commitment of the new \u201cvice president\u201d to helping Israel continue occupying Palestinian land is clear.</p>
<p>Referencing the PA\u2019s de facto capital in the West Bank, a senior
Israeli spy speaking to the US publication spelled out al-Sheikh\u2019s role
explicitly: \u201cHe\u2019s our man in Ramallah.\u201d</p>
<p>The unnamed intelligence officer is retired but still active as a reservist.
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Abbas has long been an open collaborator with Israeli occupation. He <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/mahmoud-abbas-collaboration-israeli-army-secret-police-sacred">once notoriously described</a> the \u201csecurity cooperation\u201d of armed PA forces with Israeli occupation troops as a \u201csacred\u201d principle.
<p>Al-Sheikh has long been seen by US planners as their preferred successor to Abbas. Or, as the leftist Lebanese newspaper <em>Al-Akhbar</em> <a href="https://en.al-akhbar.com/news/future-pa-leader--an-engineered-succession-under-western-inf">recently put it</a>:
\u201cAl-Sheikh\u2019s rise is not merely a reshuffle of positions but a
calculated move by some external Arab and Western forces to engineer a
succession process tailored to their interests.\u201d</p>
<p>The <em>Foreign Policy</em> profile was a puff piece seemingly
intended to boost al-Sheikh in the eyes of the publication\u2019s readers \u2013
mostly US imperial planners and their lackeys. It also contains insights
into his history and character.</p>
<p>Prior to his appointment as unelected \u201cvice president,\u201d al-Sheikh was
already the PA\u2019s \u201cmain go-between with Israel in the occupied West
Bank,\u201d the publication explained.</p>
<p>\u201cHe speaks fluent Hebrew, wears finely tailored suits, and urges cooperating, not clashing, with Israel,\u201d <em>Foreign Policy</em> gushed. \u201cThe Rolex-sporting, globe-trotting official now works behind the scenes to prevent the collapse of the PA.\u201d</p>
<h2>Comprador bourgeoisie</h2>
<p>The article opened with a description of how, in February 2022,
al-Sheikh \u201cstrode into a fortified conference room in the towering Tel
Aviv headquarters of Israel\u2019s defense ministry.\u201d</p>
<p>It explained how \u201cfew Palestinians enter the inner sanctum of
Israel\u2019s military, but, as al-Sheikh recalled, he was greeted by the top
army brass and the leadership of the secretive Shin Bet intelligence
apparatus.\u201d</p>
<p>The <em>Foreign Policy</em> reporters admit that most Palestinians in
the West Bank view the Palestinian Authority as existing \u201cto do the
dirty work of Israel\u2019s occupation\u201d and that \u201cfor many, al-Sheikh is the
man doing that dirty work.\u201d</p>
<p>The article continues: \u201cHe is the face of the PA\u2019s elite, who
experience what one former Palestinian official living in the West Bank
labeled a \u2018VIP occupation.\u2019 Senior Palestinian officials are waved
through Israeli roadblocks and rake in hefty salaries.\u201d</p>
<p>Referencing the brutal monarch who ruled Iran until the Islamic
revolution in 1979, an official working for the administration of US
President Joe Biden admitted to the <em>Foreign Policy</em> reporters that al-Sheikh \u201cis about as popular with the Palestinian people as the Shah was.\u201d</p>
<p>Al-Sheikh is a true representative of the Palestinian comprador class
\u2013 that rich minority of Palestinian businesspeople who benefit from
close economic ties with Israel and its West Bank occupation, at
everyone else\u2019s expense.</p>
<h2>Corruption</h2>
<p>His extended family, the Tarifis, <em>Foreign Policy</em> explained,
\u201chad a history of close ties with the Israelis. His relative Jamil, a
wealthy businessman who owned quarries, leveraged his relationship with
Israeli officials to get permits and privileges for Palestinians he
knew.\u201d</p>
<p>The reporters explained, \u201cIn a sense, al-Sheikh inherited the family
business: liaising between Israeli [occupation] authorities and
Palestinians.\u201d</p>
<p>The article also explains how al-Sheikh leverages these ties for his
own personal enrichment, in a system of entrenched corruption, which
seems to be actively encouraged by the Israelis. In one 2022 poll,
\u201cnearly a quarter of Palestinians reported having paid a bribe or
offered a gift, or a relative having done so, in exchange for receiving a
public service.\u201d</p>
<p>Al-Sheikh\u2019s office is responsible for collaborating with the Israelis
to give out VIP permits that allow high-ranking Palestinian officials
\u201cto cross through checkpoints normally reserved for Israelis. Wealthy
businesspeople can apply for a \u2018businessman card,\u2019 or BMC, a pass that
provides nearly unfettered access to Israel and its international
airport near Tel Aviv.\u201d</p>
<p>These are often given out in a brazenly corrupt fashion: \u201cWhen
merchants approach officials in al-Sheikh\u2019s ministry about obtaining a
BMC, they might be asked to provide favors or cash.\u201d</p>
<p>Al-Sheikh has also been credibly accused of the sexual harassment of
an employee. A formal complaint by the employee\u2019s husband (who,
according to <em>Foreign Policy</em> is influential within Fatah, Abbas and al-Sheikh\u2019s political party) led to a hush-money payout of $100,000.</p>
<p>Such corruption amongst Israel\u2019s Palestinian collaborators provides
important leverage against the possibility of them ever turning against
their masters in Tel Aviv.</p>
<h2>Violence</h2>
<p>Assaults by the PA against Palestinian resistance to Israeli
occupation are mostly violent in nature and target both Palestinian
political or media critics \u2013 such as <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nizar-banat">Nizar Banat</a>, notoriously <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/palestinian-authority-forces-are-israels-foot-soldiers">beaten to death</a> by PA thugs in 2021 \u2013 as well as resistance fighters.</p>
<p>Most recently, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/palestinian-authority-kills-its-own-people-proves-loyalty-israel">PA troops</a>
worked closely with Israeli occupation forces in the northern West Bank
to attack Palestinian resistance fighters based in the Jenin refugee
camp between December and January.</p>
<p>The still ongoing <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-kills-14-including-child-latest-invasion-jenin">Israeli occupation assault</a> on Jenin and the surrounding areas which followed in January has resulted in dozens of dead Palestinians. Almost <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israels-settlement-policy-war-crime-says-un">40,000 people have been displaced</a> from their homes.</p>
<p>The Electronic Intifada\u2019s <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-brutal-offensive-jenin/50465">Jenin reporters in March documented</a>
PA forces working closely with Israeli occupation forces by taking over
the top floor of the city\u2019s public hospital and opening fire from
within the facility.</p>
<p>The formalization of al-Sheikh as Abbas\u2019 successor, ensures a long
future for the PA carrying out the role it was created to fulfill: the
liquidation of Palestinian resistance in all its forms.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div>