This is a fascinating article, Alex, and I think it also helps explain why the Palestinian Authority has struggled. Not just because of Israel, but because of the way it came to be.
Arafat didn’t descend from throne village nobility, but the system he built reproduced their internal logic. Fatah, especially under his leadership, operated through networks of loyalty, patronage, and familial influence that closely resembled the qura al-karasi. His alliance with old Jerusalemite families like the Husaynis wasn’t incidental. It anchored Fatah in a lineage of informal, clan-based power.
After Oslo, the PA didn’t grow into a modern bureaucratic state. It ossified into something else, a halfway regime where ministries became fiefdoms, security services were split along factional lines, and proximity to Ramallah’s inner circle replaced institutional competence (funnily enough, the scriptwriters of Fauda did a better job showing this reality, than we could ever do). This is less a sovereign government in waiting than a custodian of limited autonomy. Elections don’t happen not because of sheer authoritarian impulse, but because the system itself is designed to reward stagnation. Hamas existing is just a convenient excuse.
Israel's role matters, of course. But the deeper pathology lies in how the PA mirrors the very structures it was supposed to transcend. It rules parts of the West Bank like a subcontractor, not a state. And in that sense, Ramallah has become its own kind of throne village. One with better internet, as someone once said.
Do you really believe the Palestinians want a state? They have been offered one several times and have not taken up the offer because they prefer to try to destroy Israel. Israel uprooted 8000 Israelis in 2005 and left with no strings attached. There was no attempt at state building. It simply became a base to kill Jews
I think you have a very reductionist understanding of history. It's certainly true that we need to take into account previous rejections of statehood by the Palestinian leadership, but there was never a referendum on the issue, and things can change. Certainly the alternative of permanent subjugation and oppression of the Palestinians, and treating them in a way that none of us would accept if it were done to us, is no alternative.
Referendum? By all means. However it won't happen. Abu Mazen the Holocaust denying PM of the Palestinian Authority is in the 14th year of his 4 year term and Hamas does not even pretend that it will ever call an election. If you look at polling done among the Palestinians you will see that a vast majority have no interest in a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel. It's not clear to me what else has to happen to convince people like you to stop believing that everyone around the world has the same, wants, desires and motivations as the average Westerner. I'm sure if you were a Palestinian you would be in favor of a peaceful 2 state solution and I'm sure that there are some Palestinians who would also want this. However, everything the Palestinians have done for the past 100 years have shown that they value killing Jews more than they do having their own state. At least I respect them enough to view them as sentient beings who have their own opinions and who are not simply a projection of me.
"It's not clear to me what else has to happen to convince people like you to stop believing that everyone around the world has the same, wants, desires and motivations as the average Westerner." I never said this. If you want to discuss issues with me, that's fine, but not if all you have to offer are straw men.
"If you look at polling done among the Palestinians you will see that a vast majority have no interest in a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel." Which polls are you referring to? You speak with such confidence and in such broad strokes I'm sure you'll be able to prove it with recent data.
You can look up the polls yourself but in any case that ship has already sailed. Many israelis view the withdrawal from Gaza as a dry run for a Palestinian state and we all know how that turned out. There is close to zero support in Israel now for withdrawal from territory that will very likely be turned in to a base for trying to commit genocide on the Jews.
This is a fascinating article, Alex, and I think it also helps explain why the Palestinian Authority has struggled. Not just because of Israel, but because of the way it came to be.
Arafat didn’t descend from throne village nobility, but the system he built reproduced their internal logic. Fatah, especially under his leadership, operated through networks of loyalty, patronage, and familial influence that closely resembled the qura al-karasi. His alliance with old Jerusalemite families like the Husaynis wasn’t incidental. It anchored Fatah in a lineage of informal, clan-based power.
After Oslo, the PA didn’t grow into a modern bureaucratic state. It ossified into something else, a halfway regime where ministries became fiefdoms, security services were split along factional lines, and proximity to Ramallah’s inner circle replaced institutional competence (funnily enough, the scriptwriters of Fauda did a better job showing this reality, than we could ever do). This is less a sovereign government in waiting than a custodian of limited autonomy. Elections don’t happen not because of sheer authoritarian impulse, but because the system itself is designed to reward stagnation. Hamas existing is just a convenient excuse.
Israel's role matters, of course. But the deeper pathology lies in how the PA mirrors the very structures it was supposed to transcend. It rules parts of the West Bank like a subcontractor, not a state. And in that sense, Ramallah has become its own kind of throne village. One with better internet, as someone once said.
Thanks - I definitely agree that there are real echoes, although I would add that its role as subcontractor was baked into the Oslo Accords.
And they grew comfortable with it, as long as the money kept flowing...
True.
Beautiful and fascinating, as always. You're got really great stuff!
Many many thanks!!!!
Do you really believe the Palestinians want a state? They have been offered one several times and have not taken up the offer because they prefer to try to destroy Israel. Israel uprooted 8000 Israelis in 2005 and left with no strings attached. There was no attempt at state building. It simply became a base to kill Jews
I think you have a very reductionist understanding of history. It's certainly true that we need to take into account previous rejections of statehood by the Palestinian leadership, but there was never a referendum on the issue, and things can change. Certainly the alternative of permanent subjugation and oppression of the Palestinians, and treating them in a way that none of us would accept if it were done to us, is no alternative.
Referendum? By all means. However it won't happen. Abu Mazen the Holocaust denying PM of the Palestinian Authority is in the 14th year of his 4 year term and Hamas does not even pretend that it will ever call an election. If you look at polling done among the Palestinians you will see that a vast majority have no interest in a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel. It's not clear to me what else has to happen to convince people like you to stop believing that everyone around the world has the same, wants, desires and motivations as the average Westerner. I'm sure if you were a Palestinian you would be in favor of a peaceful 2 state solution and I'm sure that there are some Palestinians who would also want this. However, everything the Palestinians have done for the past 100 years have shown that they value killing Jews more than they do having their own state. At least I respect them enough to view them as sentient beings who have their own opinions and who are not simply a projection of me.
"It's not clear to me what else has to happen to convince people like you to stop believing that everyone around the world has the same, wants, desires and motivations as the average Westerner." I never said this. If you want to discuss issues with me, that's fine, but not if all you have to offer are straw men.
"If you look at polling done among the Palestinians you will see that a vast majority have no interest in a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel." Which polls are you referring to? You speak with such confidence and in such broad strokes I'm sure you'll be able to prove it with recent data.
You can look up the polls yourself but in any case that ship has already sailed. Many israelis view the withdrawal from Gaza as a dry run for a Palestinian state and we all know how that turned out. There is close to zero support in Israel now for withdrawal from territory that will very likely be turned in to a base for trying to commit genocide on the Jews.