As
Israeli drones pounded the beleaguered Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin late
Sunday and throughout the following day, while more than 1,000 heavily armed
soldiers moved into the crowded home of more than 10,000 civilians, destroying
buildings as armored bulldozers gutted the narrow streets of the camps, the
world watched, live on TV, a heinous war crime being committed in cold blood.
اضافة اعلان
More
than 3,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes while at least 10
Palestinians were killed and more than 50 injured. The US said Israel had the
right to defend itself; never mentioning that Israeli soldiers were in fact in
Jenin and the West Bank as an occupation power. By Tuesday morning harrowing
images and footage of the scale of destruction were posted on social media:
Jenin had turned into a modern-day Guernica.
While
the Israeli rampage went on, one question kept popping up as pundits struggled
to explain the ramification of this major operation: How would President
Mahmoud Abbas react now?
The PA, perceived as corrupt and dependent on Israel, is unlikely to survive post-Abbas.
Less than two weeks ago, a mob of Jewish settlers rampaged through
the small Palestinian town of Turmus Aya in retaliation for the killing of
three of their own. One Palestinian was killed, dozens of homes were torched,
and cars and properties were vandalized, all while Israeli soldiers watched and
did nothing. This was not the first time armed settlers attacked Palestinians,
incited by a far-right minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, a racist
and previously convicted ultranationalist zealot: Itamar Ben Gvir.
Abbas, who ruled over the Palestinians since 2005, had
nothing to say. Since the beginning of this year, more than 100 Palestinians
have been killed, mostly young men, while Israel’s most right-wing government
unveiled one settlement expansion deal after another. With the Palestinian
Authority (PA) doing nothing to protect its people, Palestinian youth turned to
armed resistance. Tens of solitary, non-factional operations were carried out
against Israeli settlers. Jenin Camp and Nablus became hotbeds of resistance,
and most Palestinians were behind them. The old guard, represented by Fattah,
was losing ground. Palestinians in the West Bank had lost trust in the PA and
wanted an alternative.
After a period of mystifying silence, on Monday night, Abbas
called on all factions to meet and later announced — not for the first time —
that the PA was severing all ties with Israel, including security coordination.
Few believe he will carry out his threat.
This was a watershed moment in the life of the almost 30
years old PA, a product of the Oslo Accords that was to last for less than five
years before handing over the reins to an independent Palestinian state. Now
both Abbas, at 87, and the PA are feeling the aches of old age.
While Israel, the US, and others examine such names, they tend to ignore the fact that a new generation of Palestinians is emerging and that it has its own agenda and plan.
Abbas’ succession has been a feature issue for several
parties vested in what fate awaits the PA once he’s gone. Of late, the Israelis
have been debating the matter, among themselves and with the US particularly.
Other parties also worried about the eventual outcomes include Jordan, Egypt,
Qatar, and the EU — all for different reasons.
Abbas, who was elected for one five-year term, but never
named a successor or held elections since he came to power in 2005, has never
been a charismatic leader. He was a bureaucrat when his predecessor, Yassir
Arafat, fought in the trenches. The grand aura of revolutionary Arafat,
especially among the older generations, eclipsed a more demure leader who was
less ambitious, less tenacious, and less confrontational. The plague that
haunts any leader is when he loses touch with the younger generation. Abbas had
no affection for the tens of thousands of Palestinians born on the day he took
over.
Even if Abbas goes ahead today and threatens to end all
coordination with Israel, that would do little to save the PA. At least two
realities would act against him: An extremist Israeli government that is bent
on crushing armed Palestinian resistance while accelerating a plan to colonize
what is left of West Bank territory and an angry citizenry that is becoming
increasingly supportive of armed struggle.
The former is not about to change any time soon. But the
latter is exceptionally dangerous. Hamas, the PA’s rival, is digging roots in
the West Bank, and even if younger Palestinians are not joining its ranks in
droves, they are opting to organize at cellular and grassroots levels to wage
war against the occupier.
The PA, perceived as corrupt and dependent on Israel, is
unlikely to survive post-Abbas. That is why the succession issue is so
important and irrelevant at the same time. While Israel and the US, along with Jordan
and Egypt, would want to see a smooth transition, the reality is that no
candidate has the necessary credentials to keep the ship afloat.
The names being circled include Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary
general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO); Majid Faraj, PA’s intelligence chief; Nasser Al-Qudwa, a former foreign
minister and the nephew of Yasser Arafat, who challenged Abbas in the 2021
legislative elections as the leader of a Fatah splinter group allied with Marwan
Barghouti. There are other potential contenders, such as Jibril Rajoub,
Mohammad Dahlan, Salam Fayyad, and Marwan Barghouti himself.
Each and every contender has issues, and it is impossible
for all parties concerned to agree on one. But while Israel, the US, and others
examine such names, they tend to ignore the fact that a new generation of
Palestinians is emerging and that it has its own agenda and plan. Those who
were killed in the Jenin operation so far are mostly below the age of 20. They
represent a generation of Palestinians that has nothing to do with the PA, its
leader, and any other contender that is likely to succeed Abbas.
With the Palestinian Authority doing nothing to protect its people, Palestinian youth turned to armed resistance.
Israel, too, has a huge problem. Netanyahu, who is no fan of
the two-state solution, spoke recently of the need to support the PA while
crushing Palestinian aspirations for statehood. For most West Bankers, the PA
is an outdated body, while for Israel, it represents a fig leaf behind which it
hides its steady annexation of Palestinian lands. But with Israel’s colonization
project now openly clear, the PA’s ability to fulfill the utilitarian goal of
keeping the Palestinians under control, which Netanyahu seeks, is doubtful.
After almost 30 years, the PA has helped normalize
occupation while Israel projected to the world, with disgraceful US collusion,
that it is fighting terrorists in the land it illegally occupies. Hopefully,
Abbas’s departure from the scene would change all that.
Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator
based in Amman.
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