Absurdly, the Arab Spring upheavals have passed over the West Bank and Gaza Strip - thanks to its proximity to Israel • However, the decade that has passed since - has exacerbated the crisis in all areas
Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen
Photography:
IP
The Arab Spring upheavals that brought with them a governmental vacuum and social chaos in most Arab countries were not the lot of the Palestinians who quite absurdly managed to escape the effects of the Arab Spring due to the almost inseparable geographical, economic and social cohesion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Israel.
However, the last decade has not been good for the Palestinians.
Although the West Bank enjoys relative peace at the security level and the economic situation of the average Palestinian citizen has improved immensely, the split from the Gaza Strip and the internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas that seized power in 2007 in a brutal lynching, humiliation and expulsion of Palestinian Authority officials And their families - only intensified, and the Gaza Strip under Israeli and Egyptian siege suffers from a severe humanitarian crisis with the constant tension with Israel in the background.
To all this must be added the corona plague that highlighted the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the severe shortage of medical aids and vaccine doses to help curb the plague.
Since 2007, the Palestinian Authority has functioned in two different political entities that control geographical areas - the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip.
Despite the regional shocks and geopolitical changes experienced by the Middle East, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and members of the Palestinian leadership have succeeded in producing strategic stability that will help preserve their rule in the West Bank.
Paradoxically, Hamas acted in a similar way, but while until last year Abu Mazen was careful to maintain close ties with Israel, especially in the field of intelligence-security and at the economic level, Hamas constantly maintained constant friction with Israel through constant escalation of military activity and even conspiracy. With extremist Islamic elements operating in the Sinai Peninsula.
Relations for which the Egyptians were angry with Hamas and tightened the closure at the border terminal in Rafah between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar
The entry of the Trump administration into the White House and the normalization agreements signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco;
The strategic alliance formed between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Axis of moderate Sunni Arab states in the face of the Iranian nuclear threat;
And the fear of US President-elect Joe Biden's policies - have only further contributed to the push of the Palestinian issue off the regional and international agenda.
The fact that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is not cultivating an heir to be replaced in due course is at the expense of the Palestinian political system. And Fatah, who returned with Arafat from exile in Tunisia after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1994.
Corona virus disinfection operations in Gaza City / Photo: IPI
Abu Mazen's rule, like that of his predecessor Yasser Arafat, is characterized by missed policy opportunities, and this strategy has led to the petrification of the Palestinian leadership, which also suffers from widespread corruption and systematic human rights violations.
Ironically, the last decade has been the best decade in the history of the West Bank, which has known continued prosperity and stability.
On the other hand, it was the worst decade in the history of Palestinian society, which is a divided and conflicted society torn between its national identity and daily survival and the desire for hope for a better horizon and future - a future of independence, growth and national fulfillment.