The refusal to differentiate between bloodthirsty terrorists and the Palestinian people does nothing to help the latter. If Palestinian supporters truly want to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians, blaming Israelis for their own massacre is as counterproductive as it is morally warped.
This is not to say Israel’s government, which will surely suffer the consequences of its grave failures, is beyond reproach. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has engaged in a pattern of needless confrontation on the West Bank, included unapologetic racists and unqualified ideologues in the cabinet, and sowed discord in Israeli society. But the government’s greatest moral and political failing might have been implicitly tolerating Hamas as a means of blocking a two-state solution. (“The purpose of the doctrine was to perpetuate the rift between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,” Netanyahu critic Dmitry Shumsky recently argued. “That would preserve the diplomatic paralysis and forever remove the ‘danger’ of negotiations with the Palestinians over the partition of Israel into two states — on the argument that the Palestinian Authority doesn’t represent all the Palestinians.”)
Though there is no excusing Hamas and no vindicating Netanyahu, another player is missing from the conversation: the corrupt, inert Palestinian Authority (PA), which has done very little to advance the interests of a two-state solution or even improved conditions for Palestinians. It has never enjoyed robust support from ordinary Palestinians (in large part because of its abusive conduct and endemic corruption).
“The allegations of corruption, leveled against the Palestinian Authority almost from day one, severely undermined the credibility of former [Palestine Liberation Organization] Chairman Yasser Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, in the eyes of their people,” Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning Arab and Palestinian affairs journalist, wrote in July. “The charges, which have exponentially increased over the past three decades, are among several factors that have made it more difficult, if not impossible, for Arafat and Abbas to make substantial concessions that would lead to a peace agreement with Israel.”
The PA’s own role in empowering Hamas cannot be overlooked:
The conspicuous wealth and consumption of Mahmoud Abbas’ sons, Tarek and Yasser, have been very controversial in Palestinian society since 2009, when Reuters published articles linking Tarek and Yasser to several multimillion-dollar business deals, including a few that were U.S. Government contracts.
Western donors’ failure, or refusal, in the first two decades after the “peace process” to hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for their outlandish abuse of funds, was one of the main reasons most Palestinians lost faith in the Oslo Accords.
Moreover, it was also one of the primary reasons so many Palestinians were radicalized and ultimately voted for Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary election. When they saw no benefit from the Palestinian Authority’s “peace process” with Israel and became furious about its leaders’ corruption, they saw Hamas as their only recourse.
At some point, the war with Hamas will end, but Palestinian suffering will endure — both in Gaza and on the West Bank. President Biden correctly pointed out in his Oval Office address last week that “Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity, and peace.” However, that will remain impossible as long as Palestinians lack a credible, responsible and corruption-free representative that puts their interests first. (“According to reputable polling, around 80 percent of Palestinians consider the PA corrupt, and 60 percent see it as a liability rather than an asset,” writes the Washington Institute’s Ghaith al-Omari, who is a former adviser to the PA. “None of its main institutions enjoys popular legitimacy, in part because presidential and legislative elections have not been held since 2005 and 2006, respectively.”)
What, if anything, can be done after the war to reform the PA and therefore provide Palestinians with a serious negotiating representative? Al-Omari recommended: “To salvage the PA as a functioning partner, Washington needs to reprioritize governance and reform issues, as well as pressure Ramallah to open political space in the West Bank and clarify the process of succession.” He added, “Although the latter issue is very sensitive and will likely generate pushback, failure to press Abbas on allowing viable succession candidates to emerge will perpetuate the paralysis.” Both the European Union and the United States must condition aid on measurable improvements in PA governance.
For a brief time — roughly 2007 to 2013 — hopes for the PA were not pie-in-the-sky. So-called Fayyadism, named for then-Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, offered the prospect of greater transparency and effectiveness while improving the lives of ordinary Palestinians and building up civil institutions. The effort collapsed in large part because Abbas and Netanyahu preferred the status quo.
Before the war’s outbreak, veteran Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross told NPR: “Palestinian Authority’s security forces have been largely inactive because of the lack of legitimacy of the PA generally among Palestinians. Real reforms that would restore some sense of legitimacy could make a big difference in terms of the Palestinians performing some of their responsibilities. Getting both sides to focus on their responsibilities would be a very good way to move back towards trying to achieve something.”
In the aftermath of the war, both sides might be in a position to make extensive changes. Certainly, a peace deal is now far from the minds of Israelis and Palestinians. If nothing else, the traumatic events of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war likely will shake up the Israeli-Palestinian relationship and Israel’s relations with its neighbors. (The prospect of an Israeli-Saudi peace deal might have been an actor in Hamas’s calculation to attack.) If Netanyahu and his government fall (as some Israelis expect), the Israeli outlook toward a peace deal could undergo a dramatic shift. The Palestinian Authority will need to make its own changes — or again miss the opportunity for lasting improvement in Palestinians’ lives.
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