Palestinian Authority
Many Palestinians still question the demands of the international community for democracy, this in light of its rejection of the results of the Palestinian democratic elections held in 2006 and its indifference to the blockade imposed by the Israeli regime on Gaza after the elections. The Palestinian Authority is extremely unpopular with the Palestinian people. Its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, was elected 20 years ago and his mandate has long expired. And the Palestinian Authority's governance in the West Bank has not brought any benefits to Palestinians living there – they continue to lose land to Israeli settlers and the Israeli army still runs the occupied territory. There is very little that looks promising. It is worth remembering that even in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority is really only able to do what Israel will allow it to.
Established in 1994 as a consequence of the Oslo Accords, Yasser Arafat was elected PA president two years later. Today the PA formally exercises authority over only 18% of the West Bank, known as “Area A”. The remaining 82%, separated into Areas “B” and “C”, is controlled either jointly with or entirely by Israel.
Faced with the largest crisis in decades, Arafat’s successor appears more powerless than ever. The PA has been absent from the Gaza Strip since Hamas made gains in the 2006 legislative elections and its subsequent victory in the Battle of Gaza, which saw the Islamist group take complete control of the enclave in 2007.
Among Palestinians, the PA is deeply unpopular, seen as corrupt, repressive and in the service of Israel. But it has a semi-functioning political structure, a civilian administration, and security and intelligence services. It also receives financial support from the United States and the European Union as well as Saudi Arabia and other Arab League states.
There is limited data available about the Palestinian security apparatus in the West Bank but its forces are thought to number in the tens of thousands. These forces are divided among several agencies – including the Palestinian Civil Police, the National Security Forces and the internal Preventive Security Force, which includes the presidential guard – some of which are equipped with light armoured vehicles. All of these forces loyal to Abbas are restricted to certain areas of the West Bank and have engaged in continuous security cooperation with the Israeli state.
The Palestinian Authority Basic Law provides for an elected president and legislative council. There have been no elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for Palestinian Authority offices since 2006, and Palestinians there do not have the right to vote in Israeli elections. President Mahmoud Abbas has remained in office despite the expiration of his four-year term in 2009. The Palestinian Legislative Council has not functioned since 2007, and in 2018 the Palestinian Authority dissolved the Constitutional Court. President Abbas indefinitely postponed national elections in April 2021, stating the reason was that Israel had not agreed to allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in voting per Israel’s commitment in the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority head of government is Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. President Abbas is also chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and general commander of the Fatah movement.
The Palestinian Authority exercised varying degrees of authority in restricted areas of the West Bank due to the IDF’s continuing presence, and none over Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem due to Israel’s extension of Israeli law and authority to East Jerusalem in 1967 and an Israeli prohibition on any Palestinian Authority activity anywhere in Jerusalem. Oslo Accords-era agreements divide the West Bank into three territorial areas: Areas A, B, and C. West Bank Palestinian population centers mostly fall into Areas A and B, with Palestinian agricultural lands and rural communities in Area C. The Palestinian Authority has formal responsibility for administration and security in Area A, which constitutes the smallest portion at 18 percent in the West Bank, but ISF frequently conducted security operations there. The Palestinian Authority maintains administrative control in Area B, while security is shared between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Area B, which constitutes 22 percent of the West Bank. Israel retains both administrative and security control of Area C and designated most Area C land as either closed military zones or settlement zoning areas. The Palestinian Authority maintained security coordination with Israel during the year.
With respect to the Palestinian Authority, significant human rights issues included: credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by Palestinian Authority officials; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishments by Palestinian Authority officials; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners and detainees; significant problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified detentions and prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of nongovernmental organizations; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation, including no national elections since 2006; serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; crimes, violence, and threats of violence motivated by antisemitism; crimes involving violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons; and reports of the worst forms of child labor.
On 13 September 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Government of Israel signed the "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements" at the White House in Washington DC. The Declaration was preceded by the exchange of letters of mutual recognition between the Government of Israel and the PLO on 09 September 1993. The two sides agreed on a framework for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations within the Middle East Peace Process with the aim of, among other things, "to establish a Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority, the elected council (the "Council"), for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, for a transitional period not exceeding five years, leading to a permanent settlement based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973)."
The PLO Central Council met in Tunisia, from 10 to 12 October 1993, and endorsed the acceptance of the agreement with Israel by an overwhelming majority of 63 to 8 with 9 abstentions. The Central Council also authorized the Executive Committee to form the Council of the Palestinian National Authority for the transitional period and chose Mr. Yasser Arafat as President of the Council of the Palestinian National Authority.
On 4 May 1994, the "Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area" was signed in Cairo by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, representing the Government of Israel, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, representing the Palestinian people. Then, on 13 May 1994, the Israeli military authorities handed over the governing of the city of Jericho to representatives of the Palestinian Authority. On 18 May 1994, the last Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza City.
On 1 July 1994, Arafat returned to Gaza after 27 years of exile. He arrived to Gaza City after crossing from Egypt via Rafah, where he was greeted and received by tens of thousands of Palestinians. On 5 July Arafat took the oath of office and swore in 12 members of the Palestinian Authority, thus officially announcing the first cabinet.
Towards the end of December 1995, Israeli troops completed their redeployments outside Palestinian cities of the West Bank, with the exception of Al-Khalil (Hebron). On 20 January 1996, the first Palestinian general elections were held for the Presidency and an 88 member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
The elections were generally free and fair. The first Palestinian Authority Cabinet to be formed after the elections was sworn in on 17 May 1996 and presented to and approved by the PLC on 27 June 1996. The law stipulates that 80% of the cabinet is to be composed of elected members of the PLC. The second cabinet was approved by the PLC on 9 August 1998, by a vote of 55 to 28 with 3 abstentions, after long debates and threats of tabling no-confidence motions. The new cabinet was extended to 32 members.
Up until his death, Yasser Arafat dominated the Palestinian government. Most senior government positions in the PA were held by individuals who are members of, or loyal to, Arafat's Fatah faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Prior to the Intifada, the Council met regularly to discuss issues significant to the Palestinian people; however, it did not have significant influence on policy or the behavior of the executive. As the Intifada began and spread throughout the territories, Arafat invoked a state of emergency that granted him broad powers to make arrests, prohibit demonstrations, and take action against organizations that the PA suspected were affiliated with terrorist groups.
In the West Bank, pre-1967 Jordanian law and PA laws apply. In recent years, the PA had stated that it was undertaking efforts to unify the Gaza and West Bank legal codes; however, it has made little progress. The PA courts are perceived as inefficient, and the PA executive and security services frequently ignore or fail to carry out court decisions.
In West Bank Palestinian population centers, mostly “Area A” as defined by the Oslo-era agreements, containing 55 percent of the Palestinian population on approximately 18 percent of West Bank land area, the PA has formal responsibility for security and civil control. Since 2002, however, following the outbreak of the Second Intifada, Israeli security forces have regularly conducted security operations in Area A cities, often without coordinating with PA security forces.
In “Area B” territory in the West Bank, which contained 41 percent of the population on approximately 21 percent of the territory, mostly small Palestinian villages and farmland, the PA has civil control, but Israel and the PA maintain joint security control. In “Area C,” which contains Israeli settlements, military installations, and 4 percent of the Palestinian population in small villages, farmland, and open countryside on approximately 61 percent of the land area, Israel retains full civil and security control.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), according to PA Basic Law, has an elected president and legislative council. The PA exercised varying degrees of authority in restricted areas of the West Bank due to the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) continuing presence, and none over Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem due to Israel’s extension of Israeli law and authority to East Jerusalem in 1967 and an Israeli prohibition on any PA activity anywhere in Jerusalem.
Although PA laws apply in the Gaza Strip, the PA had little authority in the Gaza Strip, despite the formation of an interim government under the auspices of a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement signed in May that only nominally gave the PA some control over that territory. It has no authority over Israeli residents of the West Bank or Palestinian residents in Area C of the West Bank, over which Israel has security and civil control. The PA has only civil control of area B in the West Bank and joint security control with Israel.
PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah governed the West Bank. President Mahmoud Abbas, in office since elected to a four-year term in 2005, is also chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and general commander of the Fatah party. In the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, candidates backed by Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in elections that generally met democratic standards; however, the PLC has not functioned since 2007. In 2007 Hamas staged a violent takeover of PA government installations in the Gaza Strip and has since run a de facto government in the territory. Both PA and Israeli security forces reported to civilian authorities. Hamas maintained control of security forces in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said on 12 October 2017 it had reached agreement with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah after three days of reconciliation talks in Cairo. The divide between the parties has crippled Palestinian politics for 10 years and a major sticking point has been the existence of Hamas’s armed wing. Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007 following a dispute over elections, complicating any possibility of peace talks with Israel. But over the past year, the Palestinian rivals agreed to form and recognise what they call a national consensus government, and Hamas agreed three weeks earlier to hand over responsibility for the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah.
The Egyptian-sponsored efforts received much attention in October 2017, when Fatah and Hamas signed a preliminary unity agreement in Cairo, but almost immediately ran into trouble. Cairo was working in the interests of Muhammad Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief in Gaza now based in the United Arab Emirates, from where he draws significant support. Dahlan is a rival to Abbas for leadership of Fatah. Abbas is trying to avoid completing reconciliation as he knows that internal unity may pave the way for Dahlan to return. And if that happened it will be the end of Abbas.
Attempts to achieve a reconciliation with the Islamist movement collapsed when Hamdallah's motorcade was almost struck by a roadside bomb in Gaza on 13 March 2018. Mahmoud Abbas laid the blame squarely on Hamas, rejecting an offer of an investigation. A spokesperson for Hamdallah’s government instead again accused the group of bearing “full criminal responsibility” for the assassination attempt. “Once more, Hamas is going along the same path of … fabricating weak stories that make no sense,” the spokesperson, Youssef al-Mahmoud, said. The fact that no one was killed in an explosion that wounded seven guards prompted speculation that rather than an assassination attempt, the attack was meant more as a message.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed longtime ally Mohammad Shtayyeh as prime minister on 10 March 2019, in a move seen as part of efforts to further isolate rival Islamist group Hamas. Abbas asked Shtayyeh, a member of the central committee of the Palestinian president's Fatah party, to form a new government. Some analysts viewed Shtayyeh’s appointment to replace outgoing prime minister Rami Hamdallah as part of Abbas's efforts to further isolate his political rivals from Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip. The previous government was formed during a period of improved relations and had the backing of Hamas. Shtayyeh’s government was instead likely to be dominated by Fatah, though other smaller parties would be represented. Hamas was not expected to be included.
"The cooperation between the Palestinian and Israeli [security] services is extensive and has withstood any challenge. Every time Mahmoud Abbas has wanted to suspend security cooperation, the Americans have opposed it and he has fallen in line,” Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, director of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Studies on the Mediterranean and Middle East (Institut de recherche et d’études Méditerranée Moyen-Orient) said 14 November 2023. “It's an almost organic relationship, and for many Palestinians, security cooperation comes with no political return. That's why many accuse the Palestinian Authority of a sort of collaboration." Chagnollaud says the idea that the PA would return to Gaza – with Israeli armoured vehicles – as part of an occupying army would be unacceptable to most Palestinians and politically untenable for Abbas and his government.
Frédéric Encel, a specialist in Middle Eastern politics at Sciences Po University in Paris, says the Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza is the only viable solution. “Israel has no legitimacy and no intention of reoccupying, let alone annexing, the enclave,” he says. “Egypt, which occupied it until 1967, has no interest in taking charge. And no state will send peacekeepers to control the Gaza Strip."
However, for a PA return to be possible, many preconditions need to be met. "The first condition, which is not easy, is the demilitarisation of Hamas's main forces, meaning its missiles and especially any terrorists who could enter Israel. As long as this condition remains unmet, the Israelis will not stop the war,” says Encel. “The second condition is massive support from the international community. And the third is that the current Israeli government [of hard-right Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu] collapses in the short term."
Encel has "guarded expectations” that these conditions can be established, particularly given Netanyahu’s plummeting approval ratings in the wake of Hamas’s attack in southern Israel. “This combination of circumstances is certainly difficult, but not impossible. All opinion polls conducted in Israel since the Hamas massacre on October 7 consistently give substantial advantage to a centrist and centre-left cohort who are not at all opposed to the two-state solution and the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians."
The United States would like to have an “effective and revitalised Palestinian Authority take back governance and ultimately security responsibility in Gaza", as Blinken told a Senate hearing in late October. But the Biden administration's hope faces clear obstacles, principally Hamas itself. Osama Hamdan, one of Hamas’s Lebanon-based leaders, said on Monday that his people “will not allow the United States to impose its plans to create an administration that suits it and that suits the [Israeli] occupation, and our people will not accept a new Vichy government" – a reference to the collaborationist government that controlled northern France during World War II.
And the US project also faces opposition on the Israeli side. Netanyahu once again rejected the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday. He promised Israel would take "overall security responsibility" in the enclave after the war, prompting a round of denials from Washington, which made clear it would not support an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza. But the US diplomatic initiative may have a long road ahead, since it would rely on an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and a future Israeli government – one run not by hawks and their far-right allies, but one willing to partner with the Palestinians to map out Gaza’s future.
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