By: Dr. Mohammad Salami
Hundreds of Palestinians rallied in the West Bank against Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and demanded his removal.
The demonstration took place after the death of Nizar Banat, an outspoken critic of Mahmoud Abbas. Last week, Palestinian security forces arrested Nizar Banat inside his home and returned his body to his family a few days later. His assassination while in the custody of the PA security forces sparked a wave of discontent among Palestinians in the West Bank, fueling their sense of dictatorship and the corruption of the PA and Mahmoud Abbas.
Disappointed with achieving the Palestinian cause
The Palestinian Authority was formed in the 1990s. The Palestinian Authority (also called the Palestinian National Authority) is the semi-official, self-governing Palestinian body established in May 1994 in accordance with the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on behalf of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
This government was initially represented by the Palestinian people to the international community. The United States, the European Union, and the Arab world considered the organization the legitimate representative of the Palestinians in the outside world. The Palestinian people also had high hopes for this government at the beginning of its establishment, so that it could achieve the dream of an independent Palestinian state after 50 years. But the passage of time has shown the Palestinians inside the country and the Palestinian refugees in the Arab lands that this government is too weak to fulfill their aspirations.
The PLO, tired of the struggle in the 1990s, suddenly decided to replace the struggle with peace in order to perhaps achieve its long-held dream. At that time, it was decided that the PA would be formed temporarily, and during the next negotiations, the task of forming an independent Palestinian state would be determined. 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.
It was agreed that the PA would be established in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, an area much smaller than the 1967 resolution. Regional governance is divided into 16 governorates—11 in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip. Per the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Israel (also known as Oslo II), these territories are divided into three types of administration: areas under PA administration and security (“Area A”), areas under PA administration but joint Israeli-Palestinian security (“Area B”), and areas under Israeli administration and security (“Area C”). As a key proviso of the Oslo Accords, PA security forces operate in partnership with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has included training, cooperation, joint patrols, and intelligence sharing; security makes up one-third of the expenditure of the PA. The Palestinians consider this situation unfair because the PA controls only 40% of the West Bank, so how can it build an independent Palestinian state for the Palestinians?
The interests of the Palestinians or the Israelis?
For 26 years, Palestinians in the West Bank have realized that the PA protects the interests of the Israelis rather than the interests of the Palestinians in the 1967 Occupied Territories. The PA, through its cooperation and security coordination with the Israelis, has tried to arrest Palestinian activists on behalf of the Israelis.
“We’ve reached the last chapter of the transitional period with the PA and they know that the only way they can stay in power is with bullets and batons,” said Shawan Jabarin, the director of the Al-Haq human rights organization in Ramallah. “The PA understands it can’t win in democratic elections and the elite in the organization, who fear losing their privileged lifestyle, believe that the only way they can remain in control is by using force, fear and intimidation,” Jabarin told Al Jazeera.
According to the 1994 negotiations, the PA was supposed to be temporary and the Palestinians would see the formation of two governments. Not only did this not happen, but Mahmoud Abbas became the dictatorial and corrupt leader of the organization, so that even his leadership ended in 2009, but with full authoritarianism, he remains in power. Palestine is now an authoritarian regime, according to the Economist’s 2020 democracy index. Its score has declined year on year since 2006, when it was deemed a flawed democracy. Aside from the obvious lack of elections, the executive controls the judiciary, the president effectively suspended the parliament in 2007 and instead rules by decree, and Palestinian authorities have been cracking down on opposition and civil society.
All this has made the Palestinians pessimistic about the PA and want to change the situation and remove the dictators from power. Peace negotiations with Israel have been frozen since 2009, and there’s no end in sight for a political resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The economic situation in the Palestinian territories is teetering on the verge of collapse, and the internal Palestinian divide is getting deeper. Corruption is rampant, as well as an erosion of democracy, and a crackdown on personal freedoms and civil rights.
Abu Mazen has now lost its legitimacy in the West Bank and therefore canceled the promised parliamentary elections because he feared that Hamas would gain more acceptance of winning parliamentary seats than Fatah, and therefore canceled the elections. It seems that the cancellation of the elections and the assassination of a Palestinian activist could be effective levers for Mahmoud Abbas to leave power.
Author: Mohammad Salami – Ph.D. in International Relations. He writes as an analyst and columnist in various media outlets. His area of expertise is Middle East issues, including the GCC countries, especially Saudi Arabia.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or views of World Geostrategic Insights).
Image Credit: Mohammed Abed/ AFP