IF ABBAS GOES, THE PA WILL LIKELY BE REPLACED BY HAMAS

Israel Is Artificially Keeping Abba’s Leadership Alive

The Palestinians west of the Jordan River are angry with their leaders in Ramallah, but there is simply no alternative.

 

By Aviel Schneider 

 

Israel Today

Jul 6, 2023 

 

President Mahmoud Abbas presides over the Palestinian Authority cabinet.

During the Israeli military operation in Jenin, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas remained silent. The Palestinian police were also nowhere to be seen. Because of this, the Palestinians are angry with their leadership. Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds gathering outside the heavily-protected Palestinian Authority Governor’s Office in Jenin and throwing stones at it. Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Jenin, Palestinian terrorists roamed the streets yesterday while an angry crowd confronted senior PA officials, accusing them of weakness.

As previously reported, Israel’s operation was coordinated with the Palestinian Authority because the Palestinian terrorist gangs were also a growing threat to regime in Ramallah. So Israel did Mahmoud Abbas a favor, and now he’s getting a few stones for it.

Israel’s operation targeted the terrorist bases in the Jenin refugee camp, destroying the terrorists’ infrastructure and weapons depots. Of course, this provoked anger throughout the Arab world, but that too was relatively limited. A reported 12 terrorists were killed, over 100 wounded and 150 suspected terrorists were arrested. According to Israeli army sources, about 1,000 Israeli soldiers took part in the clean-up operation in Jenin, and this time a number of drone strikes helped the operation.

 

Armed Palestinians and mourners at the funeral of Palestinians in Jenin. 

 

At the funeral for 10 of the dead Palestinians, three senior PA leaders were forced to flee after being confronted by thousands of people, including dozens of armed terrorists.

On social media, the Palestinians berated their own leadership, which they accuse of collaborating with Israel. The Palestinian population denounces the Fatah leadership in Ramallah under PLO leader Mahmud Abbas as corrupt, and despises it as a traitor to the Palestinian cause. But the Abbas regime is cooperating with Israel because that is the only way it can survive. Whenever Abbas threatens to cancel security cooperation with Israel for any reason, it is only for a short time, because without Israel’s security guarantee his rule simply does not exist. Of course, the Palestinian population sees this as “pro-Israel.” And when, as in the past two days, the PA looks on as Israel attacks terrorist bases in Jenin, anger erupts.

According to both Israeli and Palestinian estimates, almost half the Palestinian population of Jenin is affiliated with the Gaza Strip-based terrorist organizations Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Abbas’ Fatah holds very little, if any sway in Jenin. And that, of course, highlights the weakness of the Palestinian Authority in Samaria, which is unable to independently maintain stability in the Palestinian-controlled territories in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria.

Recently, Israel has slammed the Palestinian Authority and its 87-year-old leader for failing to curb terrorism. On the other hand, Palestinian politicians have said Israel has made it impossible to exercise any control by intentionally undermining its authority. That may be because the whole situation in the Palestinian-controlled areas is out of control due to the leadership’s rampant corruption.

According to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy Research, nearly 80 percent of Palestinians want Mahmoud Abbas to resign. And as international powers, including the US, demand the resumption of peace talks with Israel that have been frozen since 2014, the pressure has steadily mounted. In recent months, the discussion about Abbas’ successor has been bigger than ever. A number of senior Fatah leaders have for months been bickering behind the scenes to succeed Abbas, complicated by the fact that there have been no elections since 2006 and there is no clear mechanism for determining the succession. Possible successors include Hussein Al-Sheikh, one of Abbas’ closest allies, or Marwan Barghouti, a leader of the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2006 and a hero to many Palestinians, who has been imprisoned in Israel for two decades.

 

Poster of the incarcerated Marwan Bargouthi. Many Palestinians would like to see him succeed Mahmoud Abbas. 

 

The Palestinians accuse Israel of thwarting the elections in the Palestinian territories. From their point of view they are absolutely right, but the point is that Israel did this in collusion with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, otherwise Hamas would also conquer Judea and Samaria first at the ballot box, just as it did in Gaza in 2006. As a result, the Palestinians west of the Jordan River are angry with their leadership in Ramallah and want to get rid of them, but there is simply no alternative. Meanwhile, Israel is artificially keeping Mahmoud Abbas’ regime alive, and because of this he has been denounced as a collaborator.