Has the political and social weather vane actually shifted in the so-called West Bank territories (historically, Judea and Samaria)? Or is mahmoud abbas, the 89 year old dictator running things there just worried about personally being dumped by hamas and maybe exiled or even killed for his comparative “moderation” (he rewards the families of Palestinian Arabs who die killing Israeli Jews, but doesn’t specifically demand that all Jews die – at least not in public).
From Jacob Magid’s article for the Times Of Israel, via msn.com:
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party issued a rare statement on Saturday vowing not to “allow Hamas, which sacrificed the interests of the Palestinian people for Iran and caused destruction in the Gaza Strip, to replicate its actions in the West Bank.”
The statement came as Fatah seeks to rally public opinion in support of its ongoing security operation in the Jenin refugee camp targeting Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed terror groups that have gradually gained prominence in the northern West Bank.
The statement notably called out not just Hamas — which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, starting an ongoing multifront war with Iranian-backed forces — but also Tehran itself, which Fatah accused of bankrolling the various armed groups throughout the West Bank, particularly the so-called Jenin Brigade.
Fatah party leader mahmoud abbas (also known as abu mazen) was elected to lead the west bank in 2005. His term of office was four years, ending in 2009. But there has never been another election. He is still in office now. And he still wants to stay there.
Why would he want to stay? Maybe it is because, during abbas’ years in office, he has amassed a major fortune – estimated at $100 million dollars – which comes almost entirely from aid the international community keeps feeding into Fatah; money which makes them feel better about themselves and (apparently in their view) absolves them of any worry about where the money is actually going or what it is being used for.
But since mahmoud abbas, as despicable as he is, poses less of a threat to Israel than whoever is running hamas these days, I suppose Israel should be, if not happy about this, at least happier than it would be with the alternative. Sort of like being happier about both of your legs being broken than you would be if it were both your legs and both your arms as well.
Let’s see how long fatah’s opposition to hamas (the result of its tactics on Palestinian Arabs, not the tactics themselves) lasts, and what the outcome will be. Do NOT expect it to be positive for Israel.
