Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pictured in 2016 during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (WIkimedia Commons via press service of the President of Russia)

Calls by President Biden, PM Netanyahu To Marginalize Abbas, ‘Revitalize’ PA Infuriate Palestinians

Mohammad Al-Kassim

11/20/2023

The Palestinian Authority’s future role is in question following US, Israeli leaders’ remarks

Gaza and the West Bank should eventually be “reunited” under a new Palestinian Authority (PA), US President Joe Biden said in an opinion piece this past weekend, as questions swirl over the future of the region once Israel achieves its goal of destroying the Hamas group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

“As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution,” President Biden wrote in the piece published in The Washington Post.

The president feels betrayed. He gave his life for peace and endured all the accusations, and in the end, they wanted to remove him. This will not happen. The people are the only ones who decide what happens to the president.

Palestinians are disappointed by President Biden’s remarks, and many are rattled by the president’s comments. In Ramallah, the de facto capital of the PA, a top aide to Abbas told The Media Line on condition of withholding his identity, that Abbas is enraged with President Biden’s comments.

“The president feels betrayed. He gave his life for peace and endured all the accusations, and in the end, they wanted to remove him. This will not happen. The people are the only ones who decide what happens to the president,” said the aide.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, told The Media Line, “It’s not clear what the president of the United States means by ‘revitalization’ of the Palestinian Authority,” but added that as far as the Palestinians were concerned, they knew who was the “obstacle” to peace.

“For the last 30 years since the Oslo Agreement has been signed, Israel was obstructing the possibility of a two solution, has been building settlement after settlement to block the possibility of a two-state solution and all the United States government has been talking about is reforms, changes, improvement of the Palestinian Authority and confidence-building measures as if this was the obstacle.”

US President Joe Biden, for the first time, urged the international community to help manage the security of the Gaza Strip for an interim period after the war, to be followed eventually by Palestinian Authority governance.

In the Washington Post op-ed, President Biden also threatened to slap entry bans on violent Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank.

“We don’t accept at all what Mr. Biden said, that a Palestinian government should be accepted by Palestinians. We don’t say that an Israeli government should be accepted by us. Why would they have the right to decide whether we are accepted or not,” says Barghouti.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the PA in its current form was “not fit” to rule.

Only the Palestinian people through free, democratic elections have the right to choose their leader

“At the end of the day it’s neither Mr. Biden nor Israel, nor any Arab country nor anybody in the world [who] has the right to decide who should lead us. Only the Palestinian people through free, democratic elections have the right to choose their leader. Exactly like the people of the United States do,” says Dr. Barghouti.

The US should know after all these years that exporting its model of democracy, or ousting leaders, especially to the Middle East, will never succeed

“The US should know after all these years that exporting its model of democracy, or ousting leaders, especially to the Middle East, will never succeed. It was tried in Afghanistan and Iran and in both cases, they failed miserably,” US-based Middle East expert Hasan Awwad told The Media Line.

“This is why Washington is not seen as an honest mediator—it’s not. Rather than play a role in ending the war on Gaza, it’s pushing for the removal of Hamas and Abbas. It’s hard to understand President Biden’s approach,” says Awwad.

For his part, the PA’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, accuses Israel of carrying out “genocide” in Gaza.

“The international community must commit resources to support the people of Gaza in the immediate aftermath of this crisis, including interim security measures,” President Biden wrote in the article, which sought to rally support for his administration’s policy on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

President Biden said the international community should “establish a reconstruction mechanism to sustainably meet Gaza’s long-term needs,” and said it was “imperative that no terrorist threats ever again emanate from Gaza or the West Bank.”

The PA partially governs the West Bank and has been run by 88-year-old President Abbas since his first and only election in 2005.

Abbas has led the PA for 18 years but has only limited authority over the West Bank and none over Gaza, where the PA was violently ousted by Hamas in 2007.

President Abbas said on Monday that Israel’s plans to separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and Jerusalem, reoccupy it, or cut off any part of it cannot be accepted.

According to Awad, the absence of a political horizon and Hamas’ ability to hit deep inside Israel has “weakened” Abbas.

The US president also reaffirmed his commitment to the two-state solution as “the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and Palestinian people” and said that “though right now it may seem like that future has never been further away, this crisis has made it more imperative than ever.”

NEXT FROM