In the shadow of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, a significant drama unfolds in Judea and Samaria, where Israel and the Palestinian Authority maintain a complex security coordination against terror organizations.
In early December 2024, after Mahmoud Abbas' authority faced severe challenges in northern Samaria from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PA security forces launched a military operation against armed operatives in an attempt to restore governance in the Jenin refugee camp. Ramallah views Tehran as the primary instigator of regional escalation, with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps members working to transfer destabilizing weapons to Palestinian terror organizations in Judea and Samaria.
The collapse of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria prompted Abbas to act against those seeking to overthrow PA rule. Despite his advanced age of 89, the PA chairman's memory remains sharp. He certainly hasn't forgotten how the PA under his leadership was forcefully expelled from Gaza in the summer of 2007. Abbas shows no hesitation in his methods: when his rule's survival hung in the balance, he temporarily shut down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Judea and Samaria, a network consistently promoting pro-Hamas narratives.
Despite hopes for a "renewed Palestinian Authority" – an illusion embraced by experts in Israel and worldwide who called for giving Abbas control of Gaza after Hamas' defeat – the ceasefire agreement between the PA and terror organizations in Jenin clearly demonstrated reality.
The bitter truth is that since its establishment in 1994 under the Oslo Accords, nothing has changed in the PA's unwillingness and inability to combat Palestinian terror organizations. The PA leadership has no desire to appear as an Israeli collaborator in the eyes of the Palestinian public, which views Abbas' rule as long-delegitimized.
Recent Palestinian opinion polls, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) in Ramallah under Professor Khalil Shikaki, starkly illustrate that in Judea and Samaria, which is de jura under PA control, support for the Palestinian Authority and its leader has reached unprecedented lows. About 94% of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria want Abbas to resign, while 73% consider the PA a burden on the Palestinian people – meanwhile, Hamas enjoys overwhelming support over Fatah (48% versus 21%). Unsurprisingly, a Hamas candidate would decisively defeat Abbas (86% versus 10%).
Conversely, the Abbas-led PA primarily focuses on survival. The PA chairman understands that failure to act against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure in Judea and Samaria could lead to a fate similar to Assad's flight from Syria, or worse – like Muammar Gaddafi's assassination in Libya by opponents.
Jerusalem comprehends that Abbas and the PA cannot be relied upon for security matters. Operation Iron Wall, essentially a continuation of IDF and Shin Bet activities since Oct. 7 against Palestinian terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, proves definitively that only Israel can effectively combat Palestinian terrorism.
In conclusion, without Israeli presence in there, Abbas' PA rule would likely collapse like a house of cards. Reality repeatedly demonstrates that Palestinian security mechanisms cannot enforce law and order in their controlled territories and show no enthusiasm for confronting Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations.
Israel, interested in the PA's survival as an effective administrative authority for Palestinian life in Jueda and Samaria and concerned about Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad attempting an Oct. 7-style massacre in these territories, must act independently against Palestinian terror infrastructure.
