The PLO as an organization and its leader Abu Mazen essentially lost their status as the sole representatives of the Palestinian people once Abu Mazen decided to cancel the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council. The Palestinian Authority suffers from a loss of relevance, and Abu Mazen personally is the target of harsh criticism from many members of Fatah, who are eager for his departure. In the meantime, since 2009 there has been ongoing Israeli pressure to remove the Palestinian issue from the regional and international...
There has never been complete agreement between Washington and Jerusalem over a number of core issues affecting Israel’s security. United States administrations and Israeli governments have come and gone, and these issues remained in place and sometimes had a temporary impact on American political and military aid to Israel. Demographic and political changes in the United States, the return of the Democrats to the White House and to control over both houses of Congress, demographic and ideological changes in the Democratic Party...
Israel has an interest in preventing illegal exploitation of Palestinians working in the country, in order to support stability in the West Bank, fight the shadow economy in Israel, and uphold the law. The Israeli reform in the work permit regime in December 2020-March 2021 aimed to eliminate the illegal trade in work permits of Palestinians employed in Israel by strengthening workers’ bargaining power. This article presents a preliminary evaluation of the impact of the reform. It shows that in the first seven month of its...
The proposed reforms in importation of manufactured goods and agricultural produce are expected to affect the Palestinian economies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are part of the Israeli customs union. Increasing exposure to imports of goods and agricultural produce by easing import procedures and gradually reducing tariffs is expected to help Palestinian consumers by lowering product prices, and in particular, food products that are more important in the Palestinian consumer basket compared to the Israeli basket. On the...
Hamas is conducting an ongoing campaign of attrition against Israel. The organization began initiating violent incidents from the Gaza Strip the very same week it scored its first achievements since Operation Guardian of the Walls, with Israel’s announcement that it was easing the closure and that a way was found to transfer funds from Qatar to the Gaza Strip. Israel, considered the “rational” side of the equation, is hard-pressed to understand the logic guiding Hamas and Yahya Sinwar, its leader in the Gaza Strip, and...
The public protest against Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority, which continues in the months after the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls, is more intense and demanding than previous waves of protest. The misguided conduct of the Palestinian security apparatuses, together with the growing friction between IDF forces and the Palestinian public throughout the West Bank involving injuries and fatalities among the Palestinians, exacerbate the tension in the arena. As of now, these elements do not generate a critical mass of...
In July 2021, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited three countries in the Middle East. Like his previous visit in March, the visit dealt with three principal topics: promoting the distribution of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines; Chinese investments in the framework of the Belt & Road Initiative; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel was not included in the itinerary, but it appears that China is using the conflict as a way of taunting the United States and amassing political capital – at Israel’s expense. Jerusalem must...
On June 15, 2021, Fatou Bensouda stepped down after a nine-year term as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, succeeded by British lawyer Karim Khan. One of Bensouda’s most recent decisions was to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed since June 13, 2014 in “Palestine,” i.e., in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. This decision drew harsh criticism from Israel, which charged that political considerations prompted Bensouda to adopt the Palestinian narrative on the conflict...
Operation Guardian of the Walls, or by its Palestinian name, Sword of Jerusalem, reflected the maturation of processes that began at the end of the 20th century and were followed by developments that originated after 2000 in the second Intifada. Now, the Jewish and Arab populations living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea find themselves in a new reality, where the focus of the Israel-Palestinian conflict has shifted from the periphery, including the Gaza Strip, to Jerusalem and the heart of the country. Therefore,...
Israel should strive to change the post-fighting political, security and economic reality in the Gaza Strip, in order to avoid a recurrence of the situation that prevailed in the region on the eve of Operation Guardian of the Walls. The previous three rounds of confrontation between Israel and Hamas failed to jumpstart an arrangement that would change the reality in the embattled area. In order to promote change that improves Israel’s strategic environment vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip, Israel will need to decide on an overall...
Hamas’s cognitive achievements in Operation Guardian of the Walls positions the organization where it hoped to be after the Palestinian Authority elections, enjoying much public sympathy and support from groups that are not identified with it. Hamas is seen by many as the organization that changed the equation with Israel and became a more central element that cannot be ignored in the Palestinian arena. The Palestinian arena itself is undergoing a process of change, and Hamas will have greater input in decision making at the national...
President Joe Biden’s friendship with Israel and his administration’s commitment to Israel’s security needs were manifested clearly during Operation Guardian of the Walls. So too was the United States’ central role in managing crises that involve Israel. In contrast, the Congress assumed the role of the “bad cop.” The pressure exerted on the administration to harden its policy toward Israel, mainly (but not only) on the part of the progressive wing within the Democratic Party, was significant. In order to...
