After Hamas attack on Israel: Why Abbas is under pressure

Anti-Semitic statements, little support and little power: There are not many who believe that Palestinian President Abbas will play a major role. There are many reasons for this.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has still not been able to bring himself to officially condemn Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. The “injustice” against the Palestinians is driving the conflict with Israel to an “explosion,” he told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 7 – the day of the militant Islamist Hamas attack on Israel.

Now the official Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Abbas as saying that Hamas’ actions and policies “do not represent the Palestinian people.” The sentence is said to have been said in a telephone conversation with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. But just a few hours later there was no longer any talk of this: Wafa now reported instead that Abbas was calling for an end to “Israeli aggression” and escape corridors. During the phone call, the “difficult developments” in the Palestinian territories were discussed.

The USA and EU expect a clear commitment

There is still no official statement from Abbas’s official residence in Ramallah on Hamas’ violence. Apparently there is a fear in those around Abbas that he will lose even more support among the Palestinian population. In surveys there, the proportion of people who support violence against Israel, which has occupied the West Bank in violation of international law, continued to rise.

At the same time, Abbas is under pressure: many states, including the USA and countries of the European Union, which keep the Palestinian Authority (PA) alive with a lot of money, expect a clear commitment against the terror of Hamas, which has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel People have died and almost 200 have been kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. But that still doesn’t exist.

Limited powers and anti-Semitic statements

There are not many people left who believe that Abbas, who will turn 88 in November, will have a positive role. He has been head of the Palestinian Authority since 2005. Shortly after Yasser Arafat’s death, he was elected president with just over 62 percent of the vote. It was also the last presidential election in the Palestinian territories. Just one year later, the majority for his party, Fatah, was gone. The Palestinian parliament has not met for years.

In addition, the title “Palestinian President” clearly exaggerates Abbas’s real powers. Although he represents the Palestinians on the international stage, for example at the United Nations, where the Palestinians have observer status, or on state visits, he has often not done the Palestinian cause any favors – as was the case during his last state visit to Germany. In the Chancellery he accused Israel of waging a “holocaust” on the Palestinians.

But Abbas also attracts attention at home for his anti-Semitic comments. He told leading members of the Fatah party in late August: “They say that Hitler killed the Jews because they were Jews and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews.” This is wrong. “The (Europeans) fought against these people because of their role in society, which had to do with usury, money and so on.” In an open letter, around 200 Palestinian politicians, intellectuals and activists condemned his statements.

Autonomous authority controls only a small part

The Palestinian Authority, which was originally intended to be the beginning of a Palestinian state, only controls a small portion of the West Bank. The A areas established in the Oslo process, where the PA theoretically has full control, make up only 18 percent of the West Bank. In the B areas (around 20 percent), the autonomous authority is responsible for civil administration, while the Israelis are responsible for security. The Israelis also have to have a say in building permits. The C areas (approx. 62 percent) are completely controlled by Israel.

Israel has also played a major role in the PA becoming increasingly weaker in recent years. Given the plan to continue to expand the settlements, there was no interest on the Israeli side in strong Palestinian representation. This could now take its toll – on the Palestinian side there is no contact person with whom to negotiate about how Israelis and Palestinians want to live together in the future when the war is over.

Opponents accuse Abbas of cementing divisions

Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Abbas’s authority has no longer had any influence there. Abbas’s increasingly numerous opponents accuse him of having cemented the divisions among the Palestinians. His government has become increasingly authoritarian over the years and uses repression against its opponents. Parts of the leadership around Abbas are considered corrupt.

It is now conceivable, however, that the autonomous authority, which has been laboriously kept alive with foreign money, will face greater tasks, namely if Israel implements its plan to destroy the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. When thinking about the period after the war, there is always talk of the fact that the PA could also take over administration in Gaza. But whether this could succeed under Mahmoud Abbas of all people is more than questionable. His autonomous authority is weak – and after many years without elections, it lacks any kind of democratic legitimacy.