Egyptian summit seeks to shore up support for ‘deteriorating’ Palestinian Authority
Egypt is hosting a meeting of Palestinian Authority and Jordanian officials on Monday, seemingly to coordinate policy in light of political developments in Israel and escalating situation in Judea and Samaria.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in New York City in 2018. Credit: A Katz/Shutterstock.
But the Tazpit Press Service has learned that the gathering in Cairo is also about preventing the collapse of the PA itself.
A senior PA official in Ramallah told TPS in a telephone conversation that the “the situation of the Palestinian Authority is rapidly deteriorating” but refused to specify whether he meant “collapse.”
According to this source, “the PA is weakening in the shadow of the growing escalation, especially in northern Samaria, alongside a further deterioration in the economic situation following Israel’s decision to freeze a total of 139 million shekels and also deduct the amount paid to Palestinian prisoners.”
On Jan. 8, Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich signed an order blocking the transfer of 139 million shekels ($40 million) to the PA, the amount of money which Israel calculates Ramallah spent on stipends for imprisoned terrorists and their families.
He added, “Also the expansion of the settlements as part of the struggle for Area C and the damage to the status quo in Jerusalem weakens the Palestinian Authority, but above all the increase in the number of Palestinian deaths puts it in a very serious situation.”
TPS reported in December that Egypt and Jordan are working to prevent the collapse of the PA if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dies.
Abbas and the PA are deeply unpopular. In a Palestinian survey in December, 81% said the PA was corrupt and 75% said Abbas should resign. Palestinians have not held national elections since 2005 and Abbas is in the 17th year of what was supposed to be a four-year term.
A second source in the PA told TPS that the deterioration is inevitable, directly blaming Abbas.
Referring to Abbas by his nickname, Abu Mazen, the source said, “Abu Mazen’s actions make him, in the eyes of many both in Israel and in the Palestinian arena, part of the problem and not part of the solution.”
He added, “The PA is losing the legitimacy of its rule. There is reason to fear that the PA’s territories will become a new edition of Lebanon, with armed groups not loyal to the authority controlling different regions while the central government is collapsing.”
The source specified that the PA’s legitimacy has been severely undermined by widespread corruption, Abbas’s refusal to hold national elections, and the loss of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas seized in a violent coup in 2007.
“Precisely the fear of chaos, which may occur in the territories of the PA, is one of the reasons for the continued economic support from the United States and Europe and from the Israeli governments until now. But there is no doubt that the significant decrease in international aid brings the PA to a point closer than ever to bankruptcy,” the source told TPS.
Dr. Nasser Kidwa, who previously served as the PA’s Foreign Minister and is a nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also points blame at Abbas.
In a phone call from Egypt, Dr. Kidwa told TPS, “There is no doubt that the Palestinian Authority is gradually disintegrating and disappearing also due to the actions of the leadership under Abu Mazen.”
Asked about the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority, Kidwa said this was just “part of the possible scenarios,” but stressed that “it will be a last resort.”
Dissolving the PA “will not lead to the disappearance of the national current and certainly not to the disappearance of the Palestinian cause, nor will it constitute a waiver of Palestinian rights,” he said. “We will start the whole struggle again.”
According to Kidwa, “What still holds the Palestinian Authority is an Israeli decision, official or unofficial, since the Authority today is a distinct Israeli interest, and there is no doubt that Israel is interested in the existence of a functional Authority.”
This is the first time the Palestinians are facing an Israeli government in which key figures openly express their disinterest in the Palestinian Authority’s stability.
After announcing his decision to block the transfer of tax revenues, Finance Minister Smotrich said, “As long as the Palestinian Authority encourages terror and is an enemy, I have no interest for it to continue to exist.”
Smotrich also holds a special ministerial-level role within Israel’s Defense Ministry, overseeing the civil administration of Judea and Samaria, which Palestinians say will be a further point of friction.
