‘Missing in action’: Where has Palestinian Authority been since October 7?

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was successful his constituent when, connected signifier astatine the UN General Assembly (UNGA) past month, helium thanked 124 countries for voting yes connected the first-ever resolution introduced by Palestine astatine the UNGA.

He was backmost astatine the country of 1 of the PA’s astir important governmental achievements since its constitution nether the Oslo Accords successful the mid-1990s – Palestine’s palmy 2012 bid for non-member perceiver status.

Abbas, an designer of the bid process that created the PA arsenic a government-in-waiting until the constitution of a Palestinian state, succeeded Yasser Arafat astatine the helm of the PA aft his death. Since then, the PA has made planetary designation and diplomacy a priority, with changeless calls for UN enactment and a years-long campaign for the International Criminal Court to analyse crimes committed successful Palestine.

At the UNGA, Abbas condemned Israel’s yearlong warfare connected Gaza, ongoing incursions and colony enlargement successful the occupied West Bank.

But for galore Palestinians, who are reeling from the deadliest year successful a agelong past of violence, Abbas’s words astatine the UN felt bushed and irrelevant.

While the Palestinian Authority “paid articulator service” to the calamity Palestinians were facing, it besides continued to transportation retired its relation arsenic “subcontractor” for the Israeli concern by suppressing protests and absorption successful the West Bank, Yara Hawari, a co-director of the Palestinian deliberation vessel Al Shabaka, told Al Jazeera.

“Really since the opening of the genocide successful Gaza, the Palestinian Authority has been absent from the scene, making a fewer comments present oregon there, oregon statements that truly bash nothing”, she said. “But determination person been nary factual actions to enactment Palestinians successful Gaza”.

Sam Bahour, a Palestinian American businessman based successful the West Bank, agreed, telling Al Jazeera that astir Palestinians consciousness the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian governmental enactment much broadly, person been mostly “missing successful action”.

“October 7 did not alteration the Palestinian leadership’s mode of operation; it simply intensified it”, helium added. “Their mode was, and remains to beryllium absent – absent connected the crushed successful Palestine, absent politically, and absent from Palestinian regular life”.

“Where they are contiguous is successful the halls of the planetary venues, which has a constructive role, but one, arsenic the past twelvemonth taught everyone, that is not capable to extremity this Israeli-made nightmare of decades”.

Faded into the background

For years earlier October 7, the Palestinian Authority has seen its legitimacy tumble among Palestinians successful some the West Bank and Gaza arsenic it failed to support them from escalating subject and settler violence.

The Palestinian Authority information forces’ relation successful the suppression of Palestinian absorption and the authority’s “security coordination” with Israel – a profoundly controversial, US-managed statement that sees PA information forces enactment unneurotic with Israel – person besides agelong been a origin successful Palestinians’ anger.

Disillusionment has lone deepened successful caller years arsenic the PA has carried retired a bid of convulsive crackdowns and detentions, targeting not lone those seen arsenic threats to Israel’s information but besides critics of the PA itself. In immoderate cases, detainees person been subjected to abuse

Some 89 percent of Palestinians privation the 88-year-old Abbas to resign, according to a canvass published successful June by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. The PA itself is not faring overmuch better, with immoderate 62 percent of Palestinians supporting its dissolution.

It doesn’t assistance the PA’s legitimacy that determination person been no large elections successful astir 2 decades – meaning that an full procreation of Palestinians person ne'er voted. Abbas called disconnected a statesmanlike predetermination scheduled for 2021 aft Israel rejected the inclusion of Palestinians successful occupied East Jerusalem successful the vote.

While the PA has agelong been perceived to beryllium distant and retired of touch, Palestinians’ vexation with their enactment has lone intensified, particularly successful the past year.

“We are seeing an unprecedented infinitesimal of situation successful the past of the Palestinian struggle, and we are not seeing a commensurate effect from the Palestinian Authority; they’ve mostly conscionable disappeared into the background”, Yousef Munayyer, caput of the Palestine/Israel Program and elder chap astatine the Arab Center successful Washington DC, told Al Jazeera.

“That opposition betwixt the grade of urgency and request for enactment and the disappearance of that enactment astatine the aforesaid clip has ne'er been truthful stark”.

Shut retired from negotiations for a ceasefire successful Gaza, the PA has consistently denounced the ongoing onslaught determination but has proven incapable to play a relation toward its end. Meanwhile, successful caller weeks, the deadliest Israeli raids connected occupied West Bank cities successful 20 years person underscored the PA’s impotence adjacent successful the areas it supposedly controls.

At slightest 752 people person been killed successful the occupied West Bank since October 7.

“They are expected to supply immoderate grade of extortion for Palestinians, but Palestinians successful the West Bank person ne'er been much vulnerable, much nether threat, and much straight attacked by Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers than they person been implicit the past respective years, and particularly since past October”, said Munayyer.

No governmental programme

Internally, Palestinian enactment has been divided connected the effect to Israel’s warfare connected Gaza and escalation successful the West Bank, with immoderate criticising Abbas’s effect arsenic excessively timid and others debating whether the authorization should play a greater relation successful resisting Israel.

Fatah, the enactment astatine the helm of the PA, on with Hamas and a twelve different Palestinian governmental factions, person resurfaced long-standing efforts to unite, signing an agreement successful July successful China, laying the groundwork for an “interim nationalist reconciliation government” to regularisation a post-war Gaza, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. 

But the statement was 1 of 2 twelve failed attempts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas won the past legislative elections successful 2006, mostly owed to Palestinians’ frustrations with Fatah. However, Israel and the US flatly rejected the predetermination results. In 2007, aft respective failed attempts to signifier a unity government, a US-backed coup – carried retired successful conjunction with Fatah – unseated Hamas.

In the struggle that followed, Hamas seized power of Gaza, efficaciously splitting Palestinian governmental enactment betwixt Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Since then, respective declarations of unity betwixt Fatah and Hamas person led nowhere, and it is unclear whether this clip volition beryllium immoderate different. Israel has firmly rejected immoderate statement successful which Hamas plays a relation successful governance.

But the replacement of Hamas successful Gaza by the PA – a imaginable suggested by US officials arsenic a imaginable “day after” script pursuing the warfare – has been rejected by galore adjacent wrong the PA.

When the thought was archetypal raised, soon aft the warfare started, then-PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said that PA officials would not beryllium going to Gaza “on an Israeli subject tank”.

In February, Shtayyeh and his authorities resigned amid aggravated unit from the US to “reform” the Authority.

His successor, Mohammad Mustafa, “has been truly conscionable focusing connected making definite that the Palestinian Authority conscionable stays afloat and stays alive”, Diana Buttu, a Palestinian expert and erstwhile ineligible advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team, told Al Jazeera.

“The PA is astatine a spot present wherever they spot that their beingness is connected the line.”

So far, the PA’s effect seems to person been to hunker down and hold retired the crisis.

“So it’s nary longer Shtayyeh coming successful connected the backmost of the tank, which is what the fearfulness was, but successful this unusual way, it’s Abu Mazen coming successful connected the backmost of the vessel due to the fact that helium has said and done thing implicit the people of the past year, different than conscionable to thrust this out,” said Buttu, referring to Abbas by his nickname.

“When your governmental programme is conscionable to thrust retired each massacre and thrust retired genocide, it means you person nary governmental programme.”

Destroying the Palestinian Authority

Defenders of Palestinian enactment reason that the PA operates nether tremendous constraints.

In summation to its relation arsenic civic head and supplier of basal services for immoderate 3 cardinal Palestinians surviving successful the West Bank, the donor-funded Authority is besides the largest leader successful Palestine, paying the salaries of an estimated 150,000 nationalist employees, including successful Gaza, wherever it has nary control.

But Israel controls currency travel to the PA, often withholding funds to use pressure. After October 7, Israel’s far-right concern curate Bezalel Smotrich began to withhold immoderate $80m a period – the equivalent of the funds the PA was transferring to Gaza, arguing they would extremity up successful Hamas’ hands.

That forced the PA to chopped the salaries of thousands of people, deepening an ongoing economical crisis. The concern was already dire owed to an Israeli prohibition connected the tens of thousands of Palestinian labourers who travelled to Israel for enactment earlier October 7.

Jamal Nazzal, a spokesperson for Fatah, described Israel’s policies towards the PA arsenic “crippling”.

He added that far-right members of the Israeli authorities person gone to large lengths to discredit the PA, accusing it of supporting the October 7 attacks. Smotrich has often been astatine the forefront of that crusade, astatine 1 constituent calling for the PA to beryllium “dismantled”.

“The Israeli authorities is waiting for the pretext to destruct the Palestinian Authority,” said Nazzal. “I don’t deliberation they spot it arsenic portion of the future. They privation to get escaped of it due to the fact that they bash not privation immoderate signifier of governmental typical for the Palestinian people”.

Many Palestinians, however, hardly consciousness represented by the PA. With the warfare inactive raging successful Gaza, determination is small abstraction to envision a governmental aboriginal but those that do, question whether the PA should play a relation successful it astatine all.

“The Palestinian Authority is not a typical body… It doesn’t person a mandate from the people, it doesn’t govern arsenic a effect of elections”, said Hawari, of Al Shabaka. “Its support beingness is coming to a precise adjacent end”.

What volition travel aft is simply a question connected astir Palestinians’ minds, adjacent arsenic galore are excessively exhausted by the past twelvemonth to grapple with it fully.

“The Palestinian radical are not astatine this infinitesimal successful a information wherever they are focused connected thing different than the fearfulness that continues to rainfall down connected them from each directions”, said Munayyer, from the Arab Center.

“And we are not seeing a effect from PA leadership. It’s much oregon little concern arsenic usual, the aforesaid aged statements, the aforesaid aged meetings with officials, UN resolutions, this benignant of stuff.

“Meanwhile, everything is connected occurrence each around.”