A revitalized Palestinian Authority? No thank you.
The two main prongs of Joe Biden’s proposed policy for “the day after” the Israel-Hamas war ends are (1) the creation of a Palestinian state and (2) the policing of Gaza by a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority. Israel would be crazy to accept either prong.
Creating a Palestinian state would reward Palestinians for the October 7 massacre. It would make Hamas legendary heroes for finally bringing to fruition the Palestinians’ dream of a state of their own. It would end Israel’s ability to police the West Bank, thus converting that territory into an entity capable of attacking Israel even more effectively than Hamas did from Gaza in October.
As for having the PA police Gaza, it’s a non-starter. This article by the Washington Post demonstrates that, in the words of its paper edition headline, “Palestinian security forces [are] ill-equipped for [the] postwar role envisioned by [the] U.S.” (The internet version’s headline calls that role “improbable.”) Nor, says the Post, does the PA even want such a role.
It’s not just that the PA security forces are massively underfunded and under-trained. That problem could be addressed, although it would take time, thus rendering it inoperable as a “day after” solution .
The main problem is that these forces are unpopular on the West Bank. As the Post explains, Palestinians view them as an arm of the Israeli security apparatus and/or a private militia answerable to unpopular PA leaders. As a result, says the Post, they aren’t even able to operate in some West Bank cities and towns.
It’s because of these problems that the word “revitalized” is consistently used when Team Biden invokes the PA as part of the “day after” solution. But what would revitalizing the PA mean in this context?
To revitalize itself in the context of Palestinian politics, the PA would have to become more militant and more alienated from Israel. Only then could the PA regain its popularity and relevance in the eyes of Palestinians. Indeed, in grievance-based politics in general, more militant groups always have an advantage over less militant ones.
In short, a revitalized PA means a PA more like Hamas — the group that, as already noted, will be lionized if the Palestinians get a state. Thus, the only thing worse for Israel than having the current PA responsible for policing Gaza is having a revitalized PA police it.
What, then, is the correct “day after” approach for Gaza? It’s not an easy question. However, I don’t see how Israel can effectively protect its national security without taking a major role in the policing that Strip — on the day after and for many hundreds, if not thousands, of days after that.
Biden's view (or whoever is writing this stuff; I doubt Biden is up to it) is so completely divorced from a realistic view of what Hamas wants (death to Israel) and Israel needs (to stay alive) that it can't be taken seriously as diplomacy. It can, however, be taken seriously as a sop to the crucial Palestinian vote in Michigan, a state Biden probably needs to win this November to stay in office.
Even anyone who knows nothing about Israel and the conflict can understand that if Biden (or Tom Friedman) proposes it then it's probably the worst possible idea. To be fair to Biden, the entire American establishment and that includes the friendly second Bush simply seems unable to recognize that the construct of Oslo, that Israel could gain peace through negotiating directly with the Palestinians has been a colossal and total failure. They are not ready for statehood. They cannot rule themselves. They cannot be trusted not to slaughter any Jews they encounter. Israel was very foolish to not realize this would happen and even more foolish to believe any of it would be reversible in the event of failure. Now 30 years later Oslo has brought endless war horrible terror and bloody slaughter of Israelis. And still the pinhead imbeciles in the diplomatic world insist they be given a state. It's absolute madness. I wish there was a little boy who could say out loud what no one else will, the emperor has no clothes and the Palestinians will murder and terrorize until Israel is no more or they are permanently stopped.