Can the Palestinian Authority Be 'Revitalized'? Can the Cat Guard the Cream?
by Bassam Tawil • December 5, 2023 at 5:00 am
Many of the officials managing the Palestinian Authority (PA) are the same ones who helped establish it in 1994 and were responsible for its rampant corruption. This corruption is one of the main reasons why Hamas won the PA parliamentary election in 2006, when the Islamist movement ran under the banner of "Change and Reform."
Mahmoud Abbas and senior PA officials have been stirring up bloodlust for Israel both before and after Hamas's October 7 massacre. Palestinians hear these messages and vote for Hamas when given the opportunity, as we saw in the recent student council elections at a number of Palestinian universities in the West Bank. This is exactly what Abbas feared when he cancelled the PA's presidential and parliamentary elections that were slated to take place in 2021.
The assumption that, three decades later, the Palestinian Authority is going to embark on any serious reforms is a mirage. Abbas and the PA leadership will not change unless they are pressured to do so... One thing is clear: the Palestinian Authority is in no way, shape or form up to this job.
The Biden administration is continuing to promote the idea of having a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority (PA) govern the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war. US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the phrase "revitalized Palestinian Authority" to express support for placing the Gaza Strip, currently ruled by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, under the control of the PA, headed by Mahmoud Abbas. On December 2, Vice President Kamala Harris became the latest official to promote the idea that "we have to revitalize the Palestinian Authority" to prepare it for ruling the Gaza Strip after the war.
The White House has further suggested that Palestinians "should be the determining voice" in who governs them.
