The wave of organized terrorism by the armed groups in the Nablus and Jenin areas continues in the West Bank and is also supported by individual attacks as we saw last week in the attack in the Ariel area where 3 Israeli citizens were murdered.
The wave of terrorism has not yet turned into a new armed intifada because the majority of the Palestinian public in the West Bank is not involved in it, most of the Palestinian residents do not want their economic situation to worsen and tens of thousands of Palestinians to stop working in Israel even though they identify with the idea of armed resistance to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and the settlement policy.
The PA has lost its control in the Jenin and Nablus areas and new terrorist groups are growing in the area
In Nablus began a “Lion’s Den” The rehabilitation process and its remaining members are participating in .shooting incidents at IDF forces entering the city of Nablus
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Shin Bet head Ronen Bar met with Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu on his own initiative and warned in the meeting from the continued escalation of the security situation and the possibility that the PA will continue to lose control over other parts of the West Bank until it collapses.
PA chairman Abu Mazen, who celebrated his 87th birthday last week, is loosing more support on the Palestinian street following the leaks of from the investigative committee into the circumstances of Yasser Arafat’s death, which point at him of being the one responsible for Arafat’s death, he is trying to deflect the fire from him towards Israel and he launched a big diplomatic campaign against it in the international arena.
He convened the PLO Executive Committee last week where decisions were made to go all out against the new right-wing government led by Netanyahu.
So far, the PLO chairman has not seen fit to call Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulate him on his victory in the elections as did other Arab leaders such as president al-Sisi from Egypt or King Abdullah of Jordan.
The forming composition of the new coalition with the participation of Knesset members Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich causes great concern in the leadership of the PA, which fears unilateral measures by Israel such as the annexation of areas in the West Bank, especially areas C, the expansion of settlements and building new roads, all of these steps are seen as a move by Netanyahu designed to eliminate the two-state option and leave the Palestinian Authority without a realistic political horizon.
The Palestinian leadership is very concerned about the coalition understandings between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir that within 60 days dozens of outposts in the West Bank will become legal.
The Palestinian concern It is that these outposts will be expanded and turned into settlements that will take in thousands more settlers who will take over more territories in the West Bank contrary to international decisions.
The PA demands the intervention of the Biden administration
The establishment of the new right-wing government led the Palestinians to appeal to the Biden administration with a request to do everything possible to preserve the two-state option and to deter the new Netanyahu government from taking unilateral steps and taking over additional lands that, in their opinion, harm the preservation of the two-state option.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh , the spokesman for PA Chairman Abu Mazen, said late last week that the latest understandings between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir “contradict all international decisions and international law, they deepen the settlements and lead to the taking over of additional Palestinian lands and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the two state solution “.
Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, raised the issue in his meeting in Ramallah with the American envoy Hadi Amru, who is responsible for the Palestinian affairs at the State Department.
A-Sheikh demanded direct American intervention, including putting pressure on Netanyahu, to prevent the implementation of the understandings between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir regarding the illegal outposts.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that the agreement between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir harms any future political negotiations and prevents the achievement of peace based on a two-state solution.
The new right-wing government that is about to be established in Israel is the new nightmare of the PA and Abu Mazen, the PA has announced a new battle against the right-wing government in the international arena and this may also increase the escalation in the West Bank and reduce the PA’s motivation to fight terrorism and prevent violence
President Biden is very concerned of this possibility and the weakening of the PA’s power, the question is whether he will confront Prime Minister Netanyahu on the issue of the coalition agreements with the right-wing parties and whether Netanyahu will indeed keep his promises to his partners to follow through on the agreements he signed.
It seems that the path of the new right-wing government led by Netanyahu will not be full of roses in the international arena.
