Abbas has also been working hard to erode any democratic spaces in the West Bank. He has merged all three branches of government – the legislative, executive and judiciary – so that there are no checks on his power.

To maintain his grip on power, Abbas also wields an extensive security apparatus. The internationally funded and trained PA security sector employs 50 percent of civil servants and takes 30 percent of the total budget of the PA – more than education, health and agriculture combined.

It is responsible for a monumental amount of human rights abuses, including the arrest of activists, the harassment of journalists and the torture of political detainees.

In many cases, repression by the PA security apparatus complements those by the Israelis. For example, in 2021, during what became known as the Unity Intifada, many activists were arrested and violently interrogated by PA security forces. This year, after the invasion of the Jenin refugee camp by Israeli regime forces, the PA arrested many of those in the camp who were previously incarcerated by the Israelis in a practice known as the “revolving door”.

It regularly hands over surveillance information about Palestinians to the Israeli army and does nothing to counter its regular deadly attacks on Palestinian villages, towns and camps. Effectively, the PA security forces work hand in hand with the Israeli regime to quell Palestinian resistance.

This comparison underscores the transformation of the Palestinian political landscape, highlighting the divergence from the democratic and community-driven ethos of the First Intifada towards a more authoritarian and externally influenced system.

Diplomacy

Unfit for Purpose
Very old diplomacy holds onto its dominance, reluctant to give up their positions to competent and professional new generation.

A corrupt subcontractor, the Palestinian Authority (PA), rushed into a secretive deal against the representatives of the First Intifada to secure power and control any opposition to their decades of failure. Acting as a settler colonial police force, the PA has systematically eroded the achievements of the grassroots movement, which was characterized by its unique underground social infrastructure and supportive network.

After 20 years of corrupt leadership in exile, they chose to normalize ties with the settler colonial apartheid regime, switching sides and undermining the international solidarity gained during the First Intifada grassroots uprising. This prolonged deception from within is worse than the Naksa of 1967. Over the past 30 years, in coordination with Israeli intelligence, they have shamelessly continued their deceptive rhetoric, paving the way for the Abraham Accords.

Avi Shlaim:

"I have a moral duty to denounce
Zionist settler colonialism
and
American imperialism"

"Although the Anglo-French partition of the defeated Ottoman Empire in 1920 created several nominally independent Arab states, or what British imperial leaders described as an "Arab facade" to cover up the reality of British imperial rule, neither Britain nor its Arab rulers - referenced by historian Arnold Toynbee as the "Arab henchmen" of British colonialism - were able to avert growing hostility towards colonial Zionism in Palestine."

"At a basic level, Arabs collectively understood the existential threat posed by the creation of a modern, expansionist, western settler-colonial, ethno-religious, nationalist state in their midst."

"The new Palestinian Authority created by the Oslo Accords became an auxiliary of Israel's military control over the occupied West Bank and Gaza."

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, were a series of agreements between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and later Morocco. These accords aimed to normalize diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations between Israel and these Arab countries. While presented as a diplomatic breakthrough that would promote regional stability and cooperation, they have been widely criticized for various reasons.

3. Undermining Palestinian Solidarity

The normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states through the Abraham Accords undermined the long-standing Arab consensus on supporting the Palestinian cause. By establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, these Arab states weakened the unified stance in support of Palestinian rights and self-determination, effectively sidelining Palestinian interests in favour of their own political and economic interests.

4. Legitimising Israeli Policies

The Abraham Accords provided a diplomatic victory for Israel by legitimizing its presence in the region and normalizing its relations with Arab states without addressing key Palestinian grievances. This normalization was perceived as a tacit endorsement of Israeli policies, including settlement expansion in the occupied territories and the ongoing blockade of Gaza, further entrenching the status quo of Israeli occupation and oppression.

Authoritarian Arab Regimes are buying
Israeli Surveillance Technologies,
already tested on Palestinians,
for Preventing another Arab Spring Uprising

"November 2020:

Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Netanyahu and the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to Saudi Arabia.
The visit was confirmed later by leaked Israeli reports.

Since then, the Saudi government has scrubbed schoolbooks of anything that’s critical of Israel, which means Saudi children are being taught the twisted Zionist version of history on Palestine, and MBS has jailed and executed Islamic scholars, clerics, and activists."

"No Normal Support
in Abnormal Society"

from successful South Africa Boycott campaign