Unrest in the West Bank: Concerns about the rise of Hamas

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Since October 7, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with the army and radical Israeli settlers. The already sick Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has nothing to counter the violence of the settlers or the violence of extremist Palestinians.

Demonstrating in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip despite massive Israeli retaliation, some demonstrators reportedly tried to reach Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) government buildings. Security forces therefore prevented them from doing so. Thousands attended the anti-Israel rallies, which were also reportedly organized by Hamas members.

The PA’s strategy is currently based on “allowing public protests as an outlet for Palestinian grievances,” writes Neomie Neumann of the US think tank Washington Institute. At the same time, the authorities want to prevent the demonstrations from becoming violent, so as not to risk losing control. Because the rival Hamas could benefit from this.

President Mahmoud Abbas leads the PA and the secular Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Fatah and Hamas are the two largest Palestinian organizations – and bitter rivals.

Abbas’s influence is only minor

The last presidential elections to date took place in 2005, and the last parliamentary elections in 2006. According to surveys, many Palestinians are very dissatisfied with 87-year-old Abbas. A large majority wants him to resign. The autonomous authority has repeatedly faced allegations of corruption.

As part of a bloody civil war, the Islamist Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007. Since then, Abbas has ruled de facto only in the West Bank. But his influence there is only small.

Nothing weakens the PA more than its inability to protect Palestinians from settler violence, insists Palestinian analyst Jihad Harb. And since October 7, there has been increasing violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. They have since killed at least seven Palestinians, according to human rights activists. Hundreds were therefore displaced during this period.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, on October 12, settlers and soldiers brutally beat three Palestinians for hours, urinated on them, stripped the men to their underwear and then photographed them. Two perpetrators stubbed out their lit cigarettes on the victims. According to the report, there was also an attempted sexual assault. The Israeli military said it is investigating the incident.

Some right-wing extremist politicians in the Israeli government who defended the Israeli government are also responsible for the increasing violence among the settlers, writes analyst Alex Lederman in the American magazine Time. Soldiers in the West Bank are often settlers themselves, and perpetrators rarely face legal consequences.

Despite deep dissatisfaction with the autonomous authority, which is seen as corrupt, it currently sees no signs of an overthrow or takeover of fortunes in the West Bank by Hamas, says analyst Harb of the German Press Agency.

According to scientist Neumann of the Washington Institute, studies show that “the local population has major reservations about the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah party, but does not see Hamas as a solution.” However, Harb assumes that approval ratings for Hamas in the West Bank have increased since the terrorist attacks on Israel.

More than a thousand terror suspects arrested

The PA is also under pressure after Israel announced it would temporarily stop paying millions in taxes. Israel’s right-wing extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich cited alleged support for the Hamas terrorist attack by Fatah party representatives as the reason. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant criticized the decision: the PA also needs the money to prevent terrorism.

Since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel, the Israeli army says it has arrested more than a thousand terror suspects in the West Bank, including many Hamas members. During the same period, Palestinian terrorist incidents increased significantly there, Neumann writes for the Washington Institute. Hamas is also stepping up efforts to control attacks in the West Bank.

The Palestinian public in the West Bank is currently disinclined to participate in violence, scientist Neumann summarizes. People did not believe in its effectiveness. “If they resort to violence, the price is high.”

More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, clashes or their own attacks in the West Bank since the beginning of this year, according to the Health Ministry. According to human rights organizations, this is the highest number in more than fifteen years.

So far, there has been relative reluctance among the population on Palestinian territory, Neumann emphasizes. However, this could change in the event of a dramatic increase in deaths in the Gaza Strip or an unexpected military failure by the Israelis there. So far, Hamas has failed to open a second front in the West Bank in its war against Israel.

To maintain stability in the West Bank, the Israeli government must take action “against both Palestinian and Jewish violence,” analyst Lederman emphasizes in Time magazine. Settler violence also threatens the integrity of Israeli democracy and the country’s security. The stationing of large numbers of soldiers in the West Bank to protect settlers has also led to a neglect of security on other borders. On October 7, thousands of terrorists crossed the border into the Gaza Strip to carry out massacres in Israel. (SDA)

Source: Blick