Ramallah, occupied West Bank – At dawn on December 8, gunshots rang out above al-Manara Square, the central traffic circle in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Dozens of Israeli armored vehicles attacked the area, less than a kilometer from the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters, to enter and shut down a printing press. They put up a sign outside saying: “This store supports terrorism.”
The Palestinian Authority keeps a tight grip on any armed resistance in Ramallah, so it was a surprise when the raid was met with live fire from Palestinian fighters, leading to a firefight.
The last exchange of fire in al-Manara Square dates back to 2006, according to local journalists.
Israeli forces attacked Ramallah again over the next two days, and analysts told Tel Aviv Tribune that the raids, which take place daily in the occupied West Bank, have taken on greater importance recently.
“It is a show of power and a provocation towards the Palestinian Authority and the people to sow fear,” Ismat Mansour, a Ramallah-based analyst, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“If we combine these actions with recent statements by (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu and (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich, full of incitement and animosity against the PA, … we see that their goal is to embarrass the ‘AP and even weaken it. more.
“There is no security pretext to attack Ramallah and carry out an exchange of fire in the center of al-Manara, a few meters from the Muqataa (PA headquarters), and then close a printing press.”
Netanyahu on Monday accused the Palestinian Authority of “destroying Israel in stages,” although it is unclear what he based this accusation on.
“The difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is simply that Hamas wants to destroy us here and now – the Palestinian Authority wants to do it in stages,” he told a closed-door meeting. closed by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to Israeli information. media.
On October 7, fighters belonging to Hamas, the group that rules the Gaza Strip, launched attacks on Israeli territory in which around 1,200 people were killed and 200 captured and taken to Gaza.
Israel immediately launched a retaliatory attack on Gaza that killed nearly 19,000 Palestinians, including more than 7,700 children.
Post-war phase
As Israel’s war on Gaza enters its third month, Israeli, U.S. and foreign officials are publicly discussing what political leadership in the Gaza Strip will look like after the war, based on the assumption that Israel will destroy Hamas .
In recent weeks, U.S. officials have suggested that the PA rules the Gaza Strip, but many observers do not think that is likely and senior Israeli officials have opposed the idea.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has said it does not support an indefinite Israeli military presence in the territory and opposes reducing the size of Gaza or displacing its population.
In early November, Abbas said the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza would depend on reaching a “political solution,” which would include the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
However, the Authority is problematic, as is Abbas as leader, given his advanced age and the fact that there have not been elections to select the leadership of the Palestinian Authority for almost two years. decades.
Abdeljawad Hamayel, an academic at Birzeit University, says it is too early to know what the post-war phase will look like.
“We are still in the middle of a war. It is important to note that so far, Israel has failed to dismantle the military infrastructure of the resistance in the Gaza Strip, which means that we cannot talk about tomorrow at this point,” said Hamayel to Tel Aviv Tribune.
So far, Israeli officials have hinted at a long-term plan that includes a shift to low-intensity warfare. Such a situation, Hamayel said, would allow Israel to “maintain a military presence in the Gaza Strip while carrying out operations within it.”
This, he said, would allow them “to act freely or with little resistance to the arrests or killings of Palestinian civilians and resistance fighters for months or even years.”
Is the existence of the PA in Israel’s interest?
The PA was established as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. It was established as a five-year interim governing body intended to lead to an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territory of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
However, after 30 years of existence, the PA has failed to create a state in the face of Israeli occupation and restrictions, illegal land grabs and settlements. And in 2007, it lost control of Gaza to Hamas.
Many people living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank describe it as a subcontractor of the Israeli occupation. Under the Oslo Accords, the PA is required to share intelligence with Israel as part of its much-criticized “security coordination” policy and to help thwart armed resistance by Palestinians, including by assisting in arrests. .
While the PA acts as a buffer between the West Bank’s three million Palestinians and the Israeli military occupation, analysts say Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which came to power in December 2022, is pushing for the dissolution of the AP.
“It is clearly in the interests of the Israeli military and security apparatus that the Palestinian Authority remains intact. It’s something strategic for them,” Mansour said. “But the right in Israel and the direction it is taking is to weaken the Palestinian Authority as much as possible. »
Hamayel agreed. “They see it as something they want to get rid of,” he said.
“Many in Netanyahu’s government do not want to see a Palestinian Authority governing the Palestinian people, even if that authority cooperates with the Israelis and provides the ground for the settlement project to continue without significant resistance from Palestinians in the West Bank. ” He continued.
For Hamayel, if the PA were to seize Gaza, it would mean a possible unification of the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, which would put pressure on Israel, the United States and Europe to engage in serious negotiations on the possibility of a two-state system. solution.
Such a nation would demand that Israel remove its hundreds of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where at least 700,000 Israelis live in fortified compounds, the majority of which were built entirely or partially on private Palestinian land.
“Netanyahu hopes to derail this attempt,” Hamayel said, explaining that the Israeli prime minister “signals to his right-wing base that they must support him because he will be the guarantor of the unbridled continuation of the settlement project within the WB and blocking diplomacy or negotiations with PA leaders.
Declining popularity
The PA’s popularity has declined over the past decade, partly due to a long-standing financial crisis that has only worsened with the war in Gaza and the violent repression of critical voices.
Calls for Abbas’s resignation grew after June 2021 protests over the assassination of outspoken critic Nizar Banat by PA security services, increased settler attacks, and the latest Israeli attack on Gaza .
On October 17, during widespread protests in the occupied West Bank against the Israeli bombing of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed, Palestinian Authority security forces shot dead a 12-year-old girl in Jenin.
The lack of a political solution as Israel intensifies its violent military occupation and illegal settlements expand has spurred the re-emergence of Palestinian armed resistance, particularly in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem.
Hamayel said daily Israeli military raids, including those on Ramallah, “are not new.” What is new, he says, is the increase in armed clashes between resistance fighters and the Israeli army.
“This phenomenon is not the product of incursions into Ramallah. I don’t think the Palestinian population has any significant attachment to the PA as their national representative,” Hamayel continued.
Instead, he said: “It is a long process of disappointment over how the Palestinian Authority is managing its relationship with Israel and how it has failed to achieve any of its stated goals. to establish a Palestinian state and on how it has maintained security cooperation with Israel despite Israeli belligerence in the conflict. West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Without speaking, he added “its failure to support and support the people of Gaza and the resistance in Gaza at this critical crossroads.”