Palestinians caught between corrupt leaders, Israeli settlements as hope for statehood crumbles

“President Abu Mazen and those loyal to him celebrate the illusion of a Palestinian state. They don’t have to worry about making a living – they have it all,” Abu Bara’a, a public sector worker from a village just north of Ramallah, told The Jerusalem Report, referring to the PA president by his nickname.

Like all PA employees, Abu Bara’a never knows how much money will be in his paycheck at the end of the month, usually receiving only 50% to 70% of his salary. He said that even if the authority secures more funding from donor countries, workers like him will derive little benefit.

Many Palestinians say their dreams of statehood are disappearing, caught between what they say is a corrupt Palestinian Authority that does not care about their needs or welfare and the ever-increasing presence of Israeli settlements growing around their towns and villages, making a contiguous Palestinian state unviable.

“Just 200 meters from my house, a settler farm was set up a month ago, right on the outskirts of the village. They justify their presence by claiming it’s just a shepherd zone for herding their livestock, but it’s only a cover for their real goals: to take over more land and block a Palestinian state,” he said.

According to Abu Bara’a, the settlers – Jewish Israelis who live in the West Bank – are there to “intimidate” the Palestinian residents and “make our lives miserable so that we’ll leave.”

“So, what state is Abbas talking about, and where would it be?” he asked. “Maybe on Mars?”

Despite such cynicism, Palestinian officials celebrated recent moves by key European countries – along with Canada and Australia – to formally recognize a Palestinian state. They hailed the shift as “a victory and a major success.”

And while the United States is expected to veto any such move at the UN Security Council, Palestinian leaders described the wave of recognition as “a turning point for the Palestinian cause, which is now backed by the world with more countries realizing that it’s now or never.”

Palestinian writer and commentator Daoud Kuttab believes that the recent recognitions represent a historic shift in framing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“It changes the equation and the terms of the discourse,” he told the Report.

With this recognition, “the West Bank is now formally seen as Palestinian territory, not as Israeli land. This eliminates the debate about to whom the land belongs,” he said. “It is recognized as Palestinian under occupation, no longer as disputed territory. This becomes the starting point for any future negotiations: The West Bank is part of a Palestinian state, not just an authority, so any talks from now on will be held between two states, and discussions will be based on this understanding.”

Kuttab dismissed Israeli and US criticism that recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for Hamas.

“Abu Mazen is against Hamas and opposes the October 7 attack on Israel,” he said.

“So, it’s not correct to present this as a victory for Hamas. Abu Mazen wants peace and rejects violence. Why does Israel try to delegitimize him? What else is there to wait for?”

In his speech to the UN, President Abbas called for “one state, one law, and one weapon,” urging Hamas to hand over its weapons.

Now 90 years old, Abbas has pursued a diplomatic campaign against Israel on international platforms for more than a decade. His efforts accelerated after he lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007.

A year earlier, Hamas – designated a terrorist organization by the US and the EU – won the legislative elections, leading to a political split: Hamas in Gaza, and the PA under Abbas governing the West Bank from Ramallah.

Since then, no elections have been held, eroding Abbas’s legitimacy among many Palestinians. Even his 2012 success at the UN General Assembly, where the Palestinian entity was granted non-member observer status, did little to improve his public standing.

Critics accuse the PA president of ruling without a public mandate and label him a “tyrant.”

Encouraged by international support, Abbas announced in his recent UN address that reforms will be implemented to PA institutions and that elections will be held within a year after the war in Gaza ends.

However, some Palestinians still see him as a “subcontractor for the Israelis,” arguing that he neither represents the Palestinian cause nor fights for it. Others blame him for the split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, saying this has allowed Israel to contend that there is no unified leadership for the Palestinians, and therefore, no path to a Palestinian state.

Many regard the ruling leadership in Ramallah as disconnected from the people and their everyday lives, often pointing to what they describe as deep corruption in the PA administration.

Some Palestinian analysts say that a state built on a weak and disconnected regime would fail its people, and that Abbas’s push for recognition is more about saving his own legacy than securing a better future for Palestinians.

“Abbas has lost his credibility. If we are to have a state led by this bad regime, we don’t want it,” commented Ahmed, a resident of a suburb of Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city.

“We are frustrated by the corrupted PA. Their functioning is poor, especially in health and education. They don’t address our needs, and they are completely detached from what’s going on with us. It seems they want a state to serve their own interests and not the interests of the people,” said Ahmed, who asked not to use his full name out of fears of reprisal.

“If you hear Palestinians in favor of a state, it’s usually those involved in the PA system who have privileges,” he said. “Seeing what’s happening in Gaza makes people here anxious. They fear that Israel might tighten its measures and that they could find themselves in a similar fate as the Gazans. And despite that, many of us would now prefer to live under Israeli rule than in a Palestinian state led by the PA.

“Even if many countries recognize it [a Palestinian state], it doesn’t mean much because Israel is still the stronger power and will continue to control everything here,” Ahmed said.

His views echo a broader sentiment across the West Bank: a deepening pessimism about the future, and a growing fear that things could still get worse – with or without a state.

“Lately, we’ve seen more restrictions from the Israeli authorities, such as new iron gates at entrances and exits of towns and villages,” Ahmed said. “And don’t tell me this is for security reasons. We believe the goal is political: to separate parts of the West Bank and prevent a unified independent state.

“So, we wonder,” the frustrated Palestinian asked, “with this reality of divided Palestinian cities, what kind of state could there actually be?”■