Israel multifaceted failure

The Israeli lack of preparedness for, and weak initial response to, the Hamas attack on October 07 encompassed four key failures.

First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict crumbled. While never officially articulated, Netanyahu’s approach since 2009 had involved sidelining the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and allowing the strengthening of Hamas in Gaza, within certain limits.

This approach enabled Netanyahu to avoid meaningful negotiations with the PA, which might have led to the establishment of a Palestinian state, a prospect he opposes. The ascent of Hamas in Gaza aided Netanyahu in his effort to fragment the Palestinian national movement. It also allowed him to claim he could not negotiate with a significant part of the Palestinian national movement, due to its extremist Islamist rejectionist stance. The combined effect was that Netanyahu did not face significant international pressure to resume talks with the Palestinians. Moreover, the state of affairs limited international efforts (in particular by the European Union and the United States) to advance Palestinian unification. Due to Hamas’ nature, such efforts were deemed too sensitive.

The prime minister’s policy went largely unchallenged for over a decade, in part because it wasn’t fully disclosed. Ongoing clashes with Hamas every few years signaled deep hostility between the parties; although behind closed doors, Netanyahu admitted that the status quo, including Qatari funding to Hamas, serves his policies. In a 2019 Likud faction meeting, the prime minister said that if one opposes a Palestinian state, he should favor the (Israeli approved) Qatari transfer of funds to Hamas in Gaza because maintaining the wedge between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Shifting political conditions in Israel — such as the decline of the Israeli left, which had been advocating for a two-state solution — further helped the prime minister. Finally, Netanyahu’s increasingly populist leadership style led to the removal of strong figures who might have dissented in both his party and the cabinet.

The second pillar of the October 07 debacle was the intelligence failure. Israeli security agencies, especially the Directorate of Military Intelligence (AMAN) and the Israeli Security Agency (SHABAK, also widely known as Shin Bet), acknowledged their shortcomings. SHABAK’s head, Ronen Bar, took responsibility on October 16, followed a day later by Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliwa of AMAN. The intelligence failure was systemic. At a strategic level, Israel misunderstood Hamas’ goals, with some in the security establishment wrongly believing that the necessity for quasi-sovereignty in Gaza would make the organization more pragmatic and potentially alter its ideology. The 2017 policy paper released by Hamas was viewed by some in Israel and abroad as a potential sign of change. Hamas’ choice not to engage Israel during its two last major armed clashes with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza were regarded by many in Israel as further proof of Hamas’ pragmatic approach. Additionally, Israel’s security agencies failed to anticipate the attack pattern and its timing. The bitter taste of failure in Israel is especially pronounced, considering that the country’s intelligence agencies have enjoyed ample resources and demonstrated their effectiveness in near and distant arenas for decades. As in previous Israeli and international intelligence failures, it seems that Israel had some information, but its intelligence agencies did not piece it together and issue a warning.

The third aspect of the failure pertained to the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) operational preparedness. It appears that the organization lacked clear plans for how to handle such a widespread attack. Israel was caught off guard by the large and brutal assaults on civilian communities, or the massive rave party that took place near the border. Another surprise was Hamas’ influence campaign accompanying the attacks, which included the extensive use of cameras by the attackers, documenting their actions, which members of the international human rights community have already begun to identify as war crimes. Others in the international community, such as US President Joe Biden, compared Hamas’ actions to the brutality displayed by ISIS. Israel was further taken aback by some of the tactical military aspects of the attack, including the dismantling of sensors, assaults on Israeli command-and-control posts, and the easy breach of the barrier constructed on the Israel-Gaza border.

The fourth failure involved the state’s weak response to the crisis, at least in the initial phase. Many Israelis were deeply disappointed by the military’s inability to come to the aid of the 1,000 civilians who were murdered, the thousands wounded, and the approximately 220 abducted to Gaza. In some cases, military forces were only able to retake control more than 24 hours after the attack began. This general sense of ineptitude was accompanied by an underwhelming leadership response, including in providing information and reassuring the public as the crisis unfolded, facilitating the absorption of internally displaced people, or offering financial support and social services. The prime minister, normally a brilliant speaker, did not effectively engage with the public and — to date — has yet to take any responsibility for what transpired on his watch.

 

Biden to visit Israel to show support for its war on Hamas

US President Joe Biden will make high stakes visit to Israel on Wednesday to show support for its war on Hamas, after Washington said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to let humanitarian aid reach besieged Gazans.

Trucks carrying vital supplies for Gaza headed towards the Rafah crossing in Egypt, the only access point to the enclave outside of Israel's control, though it was not certain whether they would be able to cross.

Some 160 trucks had set off towards the border from the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish, where they have been backed up waiting while diplomats tried for days to open the route.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that controls Gaza after Hamas gunmen killed 1,300 people, mainly civilians, during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 07, the deadliest single day in Israel's 75-year history.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip with air strikes that have killed more than 2,800 Palestinians, a quarter of them children, and driven around half of the 2.3 million Gazans from their homes. It has imposed a total blockade on the enclave, blocking food, fuel and medical supplies, which are rapidly running out.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden's planned visit at the end of hours of talks with Netanyahu, in which he said Netanyahu had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians. He gave no details.

"The president will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs," Blinken said.

Biden would also hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas", he added.

Washington is also trying to rally Arab states to help head off a wider regional war, after Iran pledged pre-emptive action from the resistance front of its allies which include the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

After visiting Israel, Biden is expected to travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority which is a rival of Hamas and has limited self rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel Experiencing Worst Terrorism

In recent weeks, political and security officials have been putting out impressive statistics about hundreds or thousands of thwarted terror attacks, arrests, seized illegal weapons, and seized terror funds.

These statistics may look very impressive, and no matter what, they show that the security establishment is working overtime and doing its utmost to protect Israel. The problem is, these statistics do not occur in a vacuum; there are others.

Four terror attacks took place between Wednesday and Thursday, two of them in central areas that cannot be categorized into being limited to the West Bank.

In eight months of this year, it has become the bloodiest one since the Second Intifada nearly 20 years ago.

A question arises, why has terror gotten so out of control? Some of the apparent reasons may be:

It may be true that the terrorists want to kill Jews, but the spike in terror and the increase in lone wolf attacks and attacks by some Palestinians with worker’s permits – people who are not usually involved in terror – shows that there are bigger tensions than normal.

Another question is why there has been no diplomatic progress with the Palestinians for so long? Is it because many enemies of Israel view it as weaker and more distracted than usual by internal tensions over the judicial overhaul? Because the Palestinian Authority stopped trying to actively rein in terror?

Is it because the government has steadfastly refused to undertake a robust Operation Defensive Shield-style operation as in 2002? True, on July 3-4, the IDF undertook a massive operation in Jenin which improved things there some, but has not followed that with similar operations in other problem areas. Or because Iran is leaning in hard to incite a wider amount of the Palestinian population to terror?

Some mix of these longer-term reasons is likely true. There are also some near-term reasons.

Hezbollah has gotten away with keeping an outpost in Israeli territory in the disputed Mount Dov area now for several months. It has also numerous times violated Israel’s border in low-grade ways without paying much of a price.

There are reports that Hamas may consider a similar strategy in the South. In addition to being perpetually committed to Israel’s destruction, the terror group may be especially upset lately by a cut in its funds from Qatar.

In 2014, a mix of the Shin Bet and portions of IDF intelligence warned that allowing Hamas to languish too much economically could lead to an unexpected and unnecessary war – which it did.

Since then the defense establishment has been louder about making sure Hamas never drops below a certain economic level.

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s direction, is said to be one of the key authors of the arrangement in which Qatar brings cash to Hamas to keep it afloat, without letting it save much for new weapons.

None of the defense establishment would publicly address the current situation with Qatar funding.

It is feared that Hamas may start building its own tents near the Israeli border fence and re-engage its 2018 strategy of marching on the fence with a mix of unarmed and armed Palestinians.

It does not threaten Israel in an existential way, and after the IDF slammed Islamic Jihad to the mat in May, Hamas is likely not looking for a big war, but will instead create more instability for Israel.

Increased terror from the West Bank where Hamas has plausible deniability and where Israel finds it hard to punish anyone aside from the specific terror cell involved is another clear way to pressure Israel into some additional concessions and to stay on the map as leading the resistance.

The only good news is that even as Israel has balked at bigger solutions, it has struck back hard to restore some semblance of stability when terror has spiked beyond certain boundaries.

If the latest wave of terror returns to general awful 2022-23 levels and falls from the current incredibly awful levels on its own, the IDF may just do more of the same. But if terror stays at this pace for the coming days and weeks, the IDF is likely to do a Jenin 2 to get it under control.

 

Palestinians condemn comments by head of European Commission

Palestinians have described remarks about Israel by the head of the European Commission as inappropriate, false and discriminatory.

It follows a congratulatory video message by Ursula von der Leyen on Israel's Independence Day. In it she praised Israel, among others, for having made the desert bloom.

It has sparked an unusual diplomatic spat between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the European Union (EU), its main donor.

A spokesperson for the commission told the BBC, "The EU is unpleasantly surprised by the inappropriate statement of the Palestinian foreign ministry accusing the president of the European Commission of racism."

The PA singled out Ms von der Leyen's suggestion that Israel had cultivated barren land, calling it an anti-Palestinian racist trope.

The phrase making the desert bloom is commonly used by Israel and its backers to describe what they view as the country's success in developing the land since the founding of Israel in 1948.

However, Palestinians argue that it erases their history and suggests that the land was previously uninhabited or untended.

The PA is calling for an apology from the European Commission president.

"Seventy-five years ago, a dream was realized with Israel's Independence Day," Ms von der Leyen said in her message. "After the greatest tragedy in human history, the Jewish people could finally build a home in the promised land."

"Today, we celebrate 75 years of vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East, 75 years of dynamism, ingenuity and groundbreaking innovations. You have literally made the desert bloom, as I could see during my visit to the Negev last year."

The PA statement describes the message, addressed to Israel's President Isaac Herzog, as propagandist discourse and part of an ongoing dispossession of Palestinians.

The PA claims it "dehumanizes and erases the Palestinian people and falsifies their rich history and civilization".

In addition, it says that the European statement whitewashes Israel's occupation of lands Palestinians claim for their hoped-for future state and denies what they call the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) of 1948.

Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes in the war that followed the Israel's creation.

Palestinians mark Nakba Day on May 15 according to the Gregorian calendar, while the timing of Israel's Independence Day follows the Hebrew calendar.

Some Palestinians on social media have also criticized or mocked the European leader for her comments about shared values with Israel.

The European Commission is part of the executive of the European Union.

The spokesman for the commission stressed the EU's diplomatic ties with the PA, pointing out that Ms von der Leyen met PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh when she visited the region in June 2022.

They said a meeting to co-ordinate the delivery of international aid to the Palestinians was due to take place in Brussels next week.

"The EU is actively looking for solutions for the difficult situation of the Palestinian people," they added.

Over 90 nations demand Israel lift sanctions on Palestinians

Israel must withdraw the sanctions it levied against the Palestinian Authority (PA) for seeking assistance from the world court, over 90 nations have declared in a signed statement.

“We express our deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society following the request by the General Assembly of an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice,” the nations said in the statement they signed.

They referenced the UN General Assembly vote to ask the ICJ to issue an advisory opinion on whether Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was legal. The ICJ opinion will also cover Gaza, which is under Hamas control and east Jerusalem, to which Israel applied sovereignty in 1967.

The UN resolution passed with the support of 87 nations out of the 193-member General Assembly, 16 countries voted against it and 53 abstained.

But some of those countries which opposed the vote or abstained argued that it is wrong for Israel to punish the PA over the vote.

Among those that signed the text were 24 out of the 27 European Union nations. The only three EU countries that refrained from signing were Austria, Croatia and Hungary. Even countries that are enormously supportive of Israel in international forums such as the Czech Republic and Germany signed that statement.

“Regardless of each country’s position on the resolution, we rejected punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the ICJ and more broadly in response to a General Assembly resolution and call for their immediate reversal,” the statement said.

“As member states of the UN, we reconfirm our unwavering support for the ICJ and international law as the cornerstone of our international order, as well as well as our commitment to multilateralism,” it added. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed his concerns over the sanctions imposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government which came into power at the end of last month, just as the UNGA vote was held. 

One of its first steps was to deduct from the tax fees it collects on behalf of the PA a sum equal to the amount of money the PA spends on monthly stipends to terrorists and their families.

It also removed NIS 139 million from those fees and gave them to Israeli victims of Palestinian terror. Other steps included halting all Palestinian development in Area C of the West Bank, which is under IDF military and civilian control and the denial of PA VIP cards.

Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan dismissed the groundswell of global sentiment against the PA sanctions, explaining that the request for an ICJ advisory opinion was an act of political terrorism against the Jewish state.

“This is a meaningless declarative statement and every country that signed it only added fuel to the fire of Palestinian incitement and terror, and removed any chance of reconciliation.”

 

Arab League welcomes UN adoption of resolution on Israeli practices

The Palestinian Presidency has welcomed the UN general assembly adoption by a majority of 87 in favor of a Palestinian draft resolution regarding the Israeli practices marring the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territories, considering the latest UN-sponsored development a victory for the world justice and the Arab-Islamic-Internationally-supported Palestinian diplomacy alike.

In a statement, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, cited the vote as yet another evidence of the support of the world for the Palestinian people and their historic inalienable rights.

It is time to hold the Israeli occupation accountable according to international law for its crimes, said Abu Rudeineh, noting that the Palestinian people firmly believe that imposing international justice is the only way to achieve peace.

For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry drew the attention that resorting to the International Court of Justice comes in line with the Palestinian story based on the international law and the Palestinian people basic rights in confrontation to the Israeli fake story.

It also confirms that all Israeli policies and practices on the occupied Palestinian territories, including the city of Al-Quds are denounced by the world community and according to the international law.

In Cairo, the secretariat general of the Arab League (AL) welcomed the resolutions issued by the UN General Assembly as regards the Palestinian cause, citing, in particular, the one asking the world court to weigh in on Israeli occupation and annexation since 1967, including the city of Al-Quds.

In a statement, Assistant Secretary General for Palestinian and Arab Territories Affairs at the AL Dr. Saeed Abu-Ali said that the UN-sponsored resolution has constituted an important station and platform to confront the Israeli plots, practices and aggression through legal tracks and holding the occupation accountable of its crimes.

He said that the resolution has reflected the will of the world community through scoring victory for the principles of the international law and legitimacy resolutions, including empowering the legal mechanisms to confront the Israeli practices and plots.

Abu-Ali called on the countries that did not support the resolution to review their positions according to the principles of international law, charters and justice in support for fair peace based on the two-state solution.

In Jeddah, the secretariat general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) welcomed the resolutions issued by the UN general assembly as regards the Palestinian cause, citing, in particular, the one asking the world court to weigh in on Israeli occupation and annexation since 1967, including the city of Al-Quds. OIC paid tribute to the countries that supported the resolution.

Palestinian groups reject appointment of Abbas loyalists

Three Palestinian groups – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have rejected the appointment of loyalists of Palestinian Authority (PA) President, Mahmoud Abbas to senior positions in the PLO.

“No recognition of, and no legitimacy to, the appointments announced by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) during its illegitimate meeting on Sunday and Monday,” the groups said in a joint statement.

The 142-member PCC – a key decision-making body of the PLO – consists of various PLO factions, including the PFLP. Hamas and PIJ are not part of the PLO or any of its bodies.

During the session in Ramallah earlier, the council approved the appointment of Abbas associates Hussein al-Sheikh, Rouhi Fattouh, Mohammed Mustafa and Ramzi Khoury to fill vacancies in the PLO Executive Committee and its parliament in exile, the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

Abbas’s critics said that he convened the council to promote his loyalists, especially Sheikh, and consolidate his power over the Palestinian leadership.

Sheikh, 62, head of the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, is regarded as one of Abbas’s most trusted aides. Some Palestinians are convinced that the 86-year-old Abbas is grooming him as his successor.

Sheikh was elected to replace Saeb Erekat, who served as Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee and chief Palestinian negotiator until his death in 2020.

Fattouh, another longtime Abbas associate, was chosen as speaker of the PNC, replacing Salim Zanoun, who retired after 30 years on the job.

Mustafa and Khoury, who are also closely associated with Abbas, were picked by the PCC members to serve as members of the PLO Executive Committee, the organization’s most important decision-making body.

The promotion of the Abbas loyalists is seen by some Palestinians as an attempt by the PA president to determine the identity of the future leaders of the Palestinians.

The appointments, in addition, send a message to the Palestinians, Israel and the US that their next leaders will continue with the same policies of Abbas.

The rare joint statement by Hamas, PIJ and the PFLP said that the appointments “do not represent our people, and constitute a breach of the national consensus and a suppression of the will of the Palestinian people.”

The groups called on the Palestinian leadership to immediately cancel the appointments and end its hegemony over Palestinian institutions. They further called for the establishment of a transitional PNC that would pave the way for holding general elections.

The parliamentary and presidential elections were supposed to take place in May and July. Abbas, however, called off the elections on the pretext that Israel had refused to allow them to take place in Jerusalem. Abbas’s political rivals have rejected the claim, saying he canceled the vote over fear that his fragmented and corruption-riddled Fatah faction would lose.

Hamas, PIJ and PFLP said in their statement that there will be no return to the Oslo track, referring to the 1993 accords signed between the PLO and Israel. The groups stressed that the only way to deal with Israel was through resistance, and called for the formation of a national unified command of the popular resistance to act against IDF soldiers and settlers.

The PCC issued a final communiqué on Wednesday night saying that it has decided to end security coordination between PA security forces and the IDF, and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel. The statement, issued a day after the IDF killed three Fatah gunmen in Nablus, is seen as an attempt by the PA leadership to placate the Palestinian public.

A similar statement issued by the council in 2018 was completely ignored by the PA leadership.

The three men killed were responsible for a series of shooting attacks on soldiers and settlers in the Nablus area in the past few weeks. Their killing sparked widespread anger among many Palestinians, some of whom claimed that this was the direct result of the security coordination with Israel.

The slain gunmen belonged to Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Some of their friends in Nablus accused the PA of helping Israel track them down, noting that two of them had been previously harassed and threatened by the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

The PCC decision to end security coordination and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel has not been taken seriously by many Palestinians, including members of Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction.

“I thought I was reading the same statement that the council issued in 2018,” said a senior Fatah official in Ramallah. “Whoever issued the statement on Wednesday must think that the Palestinians are stupid. Everyone knows that decisions like these are just intended for international consumption and are never implemented.”

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem played down the significance of the PCC statement, saying its decisions will remain ink on paper. The council meeting, he said, did not represent the aspirations of the Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority slams Israel for opposing US consulate in Jerusalem

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned Israel for opposing the reopening of the US Consulate in Jerusalem, which had previously served as a de facto diplomatic mission to the Palestinians. 

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh urged the United States to fulfill its promises to the Palestinians and speed up the reopening of the consulate.

 “We think it’s a bad idea,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told reporters last week in response to the US plan to reopen the consulate. “Jerusalem is the sovereign capital of Israel and Israel alone, and therefore we don’t think it’s a good idea.”

The PA Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israeli stance does not serve the peace process and disrupts American and international efforts to build confidence and relaunch negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.”

It condemned the statements of Lapid and other Israeli officials opposed to the reopening of the consulate, which was merged into the US Embassy in Jerusalem by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

The ministry also condemned “pressure” from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Lapid on the US administration to backtrack on its decision to reopen the consulate.

According to the PA Foreign Ministry, the Israeli position is in the context of the “Israelization and Judaization of Jerusalem, ethnic cleansing of the residents of Jerusalem and attempts to change the historical and legal status of the city.”

It accused Israel of working to sabotage the efforts of the Biden administration to revive the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel.

Responding to Bennett’s recent remarks in which he was quoted as saying he would not meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas because of the latter’s efforts to prosecute Israelis for “war crimes” before the International Criminal Court, the PA ministry said, “Those who fear trial before the International Criminal Court must immediately stop committing more violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and their homeland.”

“Naftali Bennett continues to repeat his statements and stances that are hostile to peace and reject any political process with the Palestinian leadership,” it added. “The ministry warns against Bennett’s misleading campaigns and statements, which aim to gain more time in favor of perpetuating the occupation and settlements. Bennett is selling illusions to all parties in exchange for calm and keeping his government in power, while maintaining his expansionist colonial project.”

Fatah-Hamas rift deepens

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s visit on Sunday to Ramallah termed a sign of improved relations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

However, this visit has dampened hope of resolving the dispute between the PA and its archrival, Hamas. In fact, the meeting between Gantz and PA President Mahmoud Abbas has exacerbated tensions between the two Palestinian factions.

Hamas was one of the first Palestinian groups to strongly condemn the visit by the “Zionist minister of war” to Ramallah. A number of Hamas officials accused Abbas of “stabbing the Palestinians in the back” and “betraying the blood of the Palestinian martyrs.”

A Palestinian official dismissed the charges as “idiotic” and accused Hamas of working to serve the agenda of “foreign powers” in the region, an apparent reference to Iran and Qatar. The serious accusations mean the split between the PA-ruled West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is likely to continue, at least as long as Abbas is in power.

The rivalry between Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas reached its peak in 2007 when the Islamist movement violently seized control of the Gaza Strip after removing the PA from power.

Abbas has never forgiven Hamas for the humiliation. Worse, he is convinced that Hamas was behind a plot to assassinate him in the Gaza Strip.

Over the past 14 years, several attempts by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to achieve reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas have failed.

Last year, Fatah and Hamas seemed close to burying the hatchet when they announced they had reached an agreement, under the auspices of Egypt, to hold long-overdue elections for the PA presidency and parliament, as well as the PLO’s legislative body, the Palestinian National Council.

But Abbas’s decision in April to call off the elections again put Fatah and Hamas on a collision course. Since Abbas’s announcement, tensions between the two groups have been intensifying.

After the 11-day Israel-Hamas war in May, strains between the two sides further escalated, especially in light of the mass pro-Hamas demonstrations that swept many parts of the West Bank.

Several Palestinians who participated in the demonstrations were arrested or beaten by Palestinian security officers in the West Bank. Additionally, Fatah and Hamas have been unable to reach agreement on who would be responsible for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war.

The honeymoon between Fatah and Hamas was credited to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US president Donald Trump. Last year, Fatah and Hamas even reached agreement to work together to topple Trump’s plan for Middle East peace, also known as the “Deal of the Century,” and Netanyahu’s “schemes” against the Palestinians.

Netanyahu and Trump managed, where some Arab leaders had failed, to unite the Palestinian rival parties.

Things have since changed, however, and neither Netanyahu nor Trump is in power. The absence of the two men from the political scene and the change of government in Jerusalem and Washington paved the way for the restoration of relations between the PA and Israel and the US.

Abbas has reached the conclusion that he has more to gain from dealing with the new governments in Israel and the US than from making peace with Hamas. The Biden administration has resumed financial aid to the Palestinians and is talking about the need to strengthen the PA, and this is precisely what Abbas wants to hear.

Similarly, the new Israeli government has already changed its attitude toward Abbas and the PA. At the behest of the Biden administration, the government has announced a series of gestures to strengthen the Palestinian economy and improve the living conditions of the Palestinians.

The Israeli measures could help Abbas and the PA leadership in the short term. But in the long term, the gestures are not going to change the hearts and minds of most Palestinians toward Israel. Nor will these gestures assist Abbas in regaining credibility among his own constituents.

Gantz traveled to Ramallah with one mission, to strengthen the PA and its leaders. The visit could also be seen as a bear hug for the 85-year-old Abbas. It is no wonder that the PA leadership refused to publish any photos of the meeting. Abbas is well aware that a photo op with the “Zionist minister of war” would cause great damage by making him appear as a “subcontractor” for the Israeli security establishment.

Abbas has long been facing sharp criticism because of his support for security coordination between the PA and Israeli security forces in the West Bank. About six years ago, Abbas drew strong condemnation from many Palestinians when he was quoted as telling a group of Israelis he considered security coordination to be “sacred.”

Abbas’s political enemies, including Hamas, are now exploiting the Gantz-Abbas meeting to incite against the PA leadership. Their main argument is that Abbas has chosen to align himself with the Israelis and Americans instead of working to reunite the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and end his conflict with Hamas.

Last week, a document leaked to Palestinian media revealed that Abbas had made it clear he will not allow Hamas to join any Palestinian unity government unless the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip accepts all international resolutions pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict.

This means Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept the two-state solution as a precondition for joining any Palestinian government – a demand that has been vehemently and repeatedly rejected by Hamas officials. The leaked document set off a war of words between Fatah and Hamas, with each accusing the other of foiling efforts to achieve national unity.

For now, Abbas and the PA leadership appear satisfied with the policies and measures of the Biden administration and the Israeli government. A senior PA official on Tuesday praised the recent agreements with Israel, especially family reunifications and financial matters, as a significant achievement.

Earlier, Palestinian officials said they were satisfied with the new approach of the Biden administration, namely to strengthen the PA.

The three men running the PA – Abbas, Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence chief Majed Faraj – are all known for their hostility toward Hamas. They have decided the Palestinians are better off dealing with the Biden administration and the government of Naftali Bennett than joining forces with Hamas.

Haniyeh elected head of Hamas for a second term

According to a Reuters report, Ismail Haniyeh has been elected head of Hamas for a second term. The Palestinian Islamist group controls the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh’s victory caps internal elections that also saw the group’s Gaza chief, Yehya Al-Sinwar, win a second term in March. Further votes were delayed by May’s upsurge in violence.

"Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as the head of the movement's political office for a second time," one official told Reuters. His term will last four years.

Haniyeh, the group's leader since 2017, has controlled its political activities throughout several armed confrontations with Israel, including the most recent 11-day conflict in May that left over 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel dead.

He has controlled the group’s political activities in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the diaspora largely from outside Gaza, splitting his time between Turkey and Qatar for the past two years.

He was the right-hand man to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza, before the wheelchair-bound cleric was assassinated in 2004.

Haniyeh, 58, led Hamas' entry into politics in 2006, when they were surprise victors in Palestinian parliamentary elections, defeating a divided Fatah party led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Haniyeh became prime minister shortly after the January 2006 victory, but Hamas - which is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and the European Union - was shunned by the international community.

Following a brief civil war, Hamas seized Gaza from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in 2007. Israel has led a blockade of Gaza since then, citing threats from Hamas.

 

 

 

 

 

Palestinian-Jordanian crisis erupts ahead of Biden-Abdullah meeting

A senior Palestinian official has triggered a crisis between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Jordan after stating that the Palestinians alone had thwarted former US President Donald Trump’s plan for Mideast peace. 

The Jordanians say that they also played a major role in derailing the Trump plan as they feared the plan was aimed at turning their country into an alternative homeland for the Palestinians.

The PA dismissed the Trump plan, which was unveiled in January 2020, as a conspiracy aiming to liquidate the Palestinian issue and Palestinian rights. The Arab League, including Jordan, also rejected the plan, saying it would not lead to peace or meet the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinians.

The crisis emerged on the eve of a meeting in Washington between Jordan’s King Abdullah II and US President Joe Biden.

It also comes two weeks after PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Abdullah agreed during a meeting in Amman to coordinate positions “on the interest of the Arab nation and its common cause, primarily the Palestinian cause,” according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.

During the meeting, Abdullah reiterated Jordan’s support for the Palestinians “in achieving their just and legitimate rights and establishing their independent, sovereign and viable state on the June 4, 1967, lines, with east Jerusalem as its capital,” Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported.

The crisis erupted during a recent meeting of the Arab Parliament, the legislative body of the Arab League. A video of the rare public, heated discussion appeared over the weekend on various social media platforms, drawing sharp criticism from Palestinians and Jordanians alike.

The Palestinian official, Azzam al-Ahmed, a veteran member of the Fatah Central Committee, said in a speech before the parliament that the Palestinians alone had foiled Trump’s “Deal of the Century.”

“We are the ones who clashed with America,” he said.

Ahmed’s speech was interrupted by Jordanian parliament member Khalil Atiyyeh, who said, “Azzam, you were not alone in the field. Until now, we [Jordanians] are paying the price for our position over the ‘Deal of the Century’ and support for the Palestinians.

“There are conspiracies being concocted against Jordan and the king,” he said. “The Jordanian people are being starved because of their opposition to the plan.”

The head of the “Palestine Committee” in the Jordanian Parliament, Mohammed al-Zahrawi, expressed his appreciation for the position of Attiyeh and denounced the Palestinian official’s “failure to address Jordan’s firm position under the king’s leadership in defending the Palestinian cause and the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Zahrawi accused the Palestinian official of ignoring Jordan’s role in supporting the Palestinian issue. “Jordan confronted the ‘Deal of the Century’ and all schemes, and was subjected to pressure as a result of its firm stances, which Azzam al-Ahmed deliberately did not address in his speech,” he said.

Several Palestinians criticized Ahmed both for his speech and his participation in the Arab Parliament gathering.

In 2018, Abbas dissolved the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which has been paralyzed since 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. In 2006, Ahmed was elected as a member of the PLC representing the area of Jenin as a Fatah candidate.

“Is Azzam al-Ahmed still a member of the parliament?” asked Palestinian journalist Naela Khalil. “Didn’t the president dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council?”

Another Palestinian journalist, Muath Hamed, commented on Ahmed’s speech in a post on Facebook by reminding him that he was not speaking on Palestine TV. “You are talking in front of Arab parliamentarians, not Palestine TV,” Hamed wrote. “This means that there are microphones and the attendees can reply to you on the spot.”

Some Jordanian social media users accused the Palestinians of being “ungrateful” and praised the Jordanian parliamentarian for “silencing” his Palestinian colleague.

Jordanian Professor Faiz Zoubi commented on Twitter, “Thank you Khalil Attiyeh for your firm stance in the face of Azzam al-Ahmed. The Jordanian people and their leadership have been looking after the Palestinian cause for 70 years. The king is now in the US for the sake of the Palestinian cause, and where are you [Ahmed]?”

The Trump peace plan, officially titled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinians and Israeli People,” was authored by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

Mounting protests against Mahmoud Abbas

According to AP, thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, whose security forces and supporters have violently dispersed them.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death of an outspoken critic of the PA in the custody of security forces last week, but the grievances run much deeper. Abbas’ popularity plunged after he called off the first elections in 15 years in April and was sidelined by the Gaza war in May. The PA has long been seen as rife with corruption and intolerant of dissent.

The Palestinian Authority is one of the last manifestations of the peace process, which has been dormant for more than a decade, and is seen by Israel, the United States and the European Union as a key partner in promoting stability.

The PA was established in the 1990s through interim peace agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which still represents the cause internationally. It was seen as a state-in-waiting and was granted limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the PLO held several rounds of peace talks throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The Palestinians, negotiating from a position of weakness, sought an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel seized in the 1967 war. They were never able to reach an agreement, and there have been no substantive talks since 2009.

The Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, a year after winning a landslide victory in Palestinian elections. That confined Abbas’ authority to parts of the West Bank. Several attempts at Palestinian reconciliation over the years have failed.

While the PA has ministries, security forces and the trappings of a state, its authority is limited to major population centers that amount to around 40% of the West Bank. Israel has overarching authority and controls access to the PA-run territories, which Palestinians routinely compare to the Black-ruled Bantustans established by apartheid South Africa.

The increasingly authoritarian PA is dominated by Abbas’ secular Fatah party, which is led by a small circle of men in their 60s and 70s. The 85-year-old Abbas, whose four-year presidential term expired in 2009, leads the PA, the PLO and Fatah.

The PA leadership, which enjoys special privileges for cooperating with Israel, is widely seen by the Palestinians as corrupt and self-serving. Its policy of coordinating security with Israel to go after Hamas and other mutual foes is extremely unpopular. Protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday accused the PA of being collaborators, a charge that amounts to treason.

Last week, security forces raided a home in the occupied West Bank to arrest Nizar Banat, who had repeatedly criticized the PA in online posts. His family says they beat him with batons before dragging him away. The PA says it has launched an investigation into his death, which ignited the latest protests.

Banat was a candidate in the parliamentary elections that Abbas called off in April when it looked like his fractured Fatah would suffer an embarrassing defeat to Hamas. During the Gaza war that erupted shortly thereafter, Hamas was widely seen as fighting for Palestinian rights and defending Jerusalem while the PA did nothing.

Despite his unpopularity, Abbas can count on the support of powerful friends, with Israel, the United States and Western donors deeply invested in the PA’s survival. The PA also pays the salaries of tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants who would otherwise struggle to find work.

By administering major population centers, the PA reduces the financial and security burden of Israel’s 54-year military occupation of the West Bank. It also helps preserve the idea of an eventual two-state solution, even as Israel expands Jewish settlements and consolidates its control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The EU has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the PA over the years, and the US and other nations have trained and equipped its security forces. The Biden administration has said it hopes to strengthen the PA and work with it to rebuild Gaza — where it has no power.

Israel, the US and the EU all prefer the unelected PA to Hamas — which they consider a terrorist group — or to the chaos that could ensue from the PA’s collapse. They are committed to working with the PA to manage the conflict and reduce tensions until some future time when the peace process can be revived.

But after weeks of unrest in Jerusalem, a war in Gaza and now street violence in the West Bank, that approach seems increasingly fraught.

Time to hold election for Palestinian Authority

Since elections have been held in Syria, a new government has been installed in Israel and efforts for normalization of Israel’s relationship with Muslim countries is expected to continue, the stigma of cancellation of elections in the occupied territories, must be removed at the earliest.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had cancelled the first elections to be held in the occupied Palestinian territories since 2006, blaming Israel for not allowing the polls to include East Jerusalem.

Israel is unlikely to grant that permission because it annexed East Jerusalem after winning the 1967 war and views the city as its undivided capital. Allowing Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem would weaken its claim.

Israeli officials say that the delay could lead to renewed conflict with Hamas, considered terrorists by the Jewish state, the European Union and the United States.

The elections were due to take place in late-May but Abbas announced cancellation, which is viewed as an attempt to prolong his rule.

Infighting within Fatah has produced several popular rivals vying to replace the 85-year-old leader, viewed by the overwhelmingly young Palestinian population as corrupt and ineffective.

The decision has disappointed young Palestinians, who have been repeatedly denied a chance to choose a new leadership, and will be quietly welcomed by the US and Israel, which viewed the elections as a chance for Hamas to further consolidate power.

Hamas immediately termed the delay as a coup.  The group’s surprise victory in the 2006 elections led to months of conflict with Fatah — including a short-lived civil war that saw Hamas take control of the Gaza Strip, triggering an Israeli blockade that continues to this day.

The EU-backed elections had been designed to renew a democratic mandate for the increasingly authoritarian Abbas, who won a four-year term as president in 2005, in the hopes of positioning him for a round of peace talks being considered by the Biden administration.

Like Netanyahu, Abbas also becomes redundant

According to reports, Palestinian Authority (PA) is upset with Egypt’s continued support for deposed Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan, an archrival of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The Egyptians are said to be outraged by Abbas’s alleged attempt to obstruct Cairo’s effort to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of last month’s fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pledged US$500 million to help rebuild the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. He has also dispatched dozens of engineers, bulldozers and cranes to the Gaza Strip to assist in the reconstruction effort.

“Egypt is working behind our back,” said a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah. “The Egyptians are working directly with Hamas on the reconstruction effort, ignoring the role of the Palestinian Authority.”

The tensions between Ramallah and Cairo were also related to the PA’s demand to supervise the entry of Qatari cash grants into the Gaza Strip.

The money must be delivered to the Gaza Strip through the PA government in Ramallah to ensure that the funds do not end up in the hands of Hamas; the PA has informed the Egyptians.

The PA also is said to be worried about Hamas’s demand that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti be included in any prisoner-exchange agreement with Israel. The PA fears that such a move would further boost Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians, which has already increased after the 11-day fighting with Israel.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who visited Cairo last week, met with Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, and discussed with her the issue of a prisoner swap with Israel.

Barghouti is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in a series of terrorist attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada. Public opinion polls have shown that he would defeat Abbas and other candidates in a PA presidential election.

In a surprise move, Egypt has called off a planned meeting of Palestinian factions in Cairo to discuss the reconstruction effort in the Gaza Strip and ways of achieving Palestinian unity.

The decision to call off the meeting was taken in light of Egypt’s discontent with Abbas and the PA leadership over their recent positions toward the reconstruction and ending the Hamas-Fatah rift.

Abbas had turned down an Egyptian invitation to participate in the meeting of the Palestinian factions.

The Egyptians called off the meeting despite representatives of the factions having already arrived in Cairo.

The PA is opposed to giving Hamas any role in the reconstruction effort, insisting that the Ramallah-based government alone be responsible.

The Palestinian leadership was surprised to see the Egyptians invite many Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Cairo for talks on the reconstruction effort.

“This move was not coordinated in advance with the Palestinian Authority,” the official said.

Earlier, PA had dispatched a senior delegation to Cairo headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Amr for talks with Egyptian officials on ways of solving the dispute over the reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. The delegation members reiterated Abbas’s stance that the PA alone should be responsible for the reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptians are also said to be frustrated with Abbas’s refusal to patch up his differences with Hamas and Dahlan, who is reportedly closely associated with Sisi.

Dahlan, who is based in the United Arab Emirates, has improved his relations with Hamas over the past few years. As part of the rapprochement, Hamas allowed dozens of Dahlan loyalists who fled the Gaza Strip to return to their homes.

Over the past five years, several attempts by Sisi to persuade Abbas to bury the hatchet with Dahlan have failed.

In recent weeks, the PA security forces arrested or summoned for interrogation more than 150 Dahlan supporters in the West Bank, a move that has increased tensions between Ramallah and Cairo.

The PA has also resumed its security crackdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank, sabotaging Cairo’s efforts to end the rivalry between Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Gaza-based group.

Creation of a fact-finding mission to investigate Israeli actions against Palestinians

Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have submitted a resolution on the creation of a fact-finding mission that will be voted on Thursday when the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) holds a special session on the matter in Geneva.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to establish a commission of inquiry into Israeli actions against Palestinians doing the period leading up to and including the 11-day Gaza war that ended on May 21.

In particular, the committee would investigate Israeli activity in Gaza and Jerusalem as well as the ethnic riots that broke out in mixed cities within sovereign Israel.

"The commission would be authorized to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring legal accountability, including individual criminal and command responsibility, for such violations, and justice for victims," the Resolution states. 

It would explore the "alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity."

Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva responded immediately, noting the absence of Hamas's firing of rockets against Israeli cities and towns.

"No mention of Hamas. No mention of 4300+ rockets," it stated, adding, "we call on Member States to speak up and oppose this resolution."

Thursday's special session will be the 30th one that the UNHRC has held since its inception in 2006, out of which nine focused on Israel. No other country has been the subject of so many special sessions.

There have been at least five fact-finding missions into Israeli military actions in the past, including one on the Hamas-led "Great March of Return" as well as on past Gaza wars.