I had a young professor of Middle Eastern history who was outstanding. Everyone knew that Harvard would not give him tenure, as was their custom in treating junior faculty. But he got me extremely interested in the subject and probably helped contribute to my coming to Israel in 1992.
One of the points that he hammered home was that the same things that supposedly united Arabs were the same things that divided them. For example, language: they all speak Arabic and therefore are united; he then went into the different dialects and the chauvinism that goes with them. He talked about land and then said how there were always disputes between neighbors over who gets that hill or who takes this island. Yasir Arafat could smile with King Hussein, though he tried to have him killed on a dozen occasions. On the one hand the Arabs look monolithic; as we see today, they are often divided and ready to go to war one with another as with the various factions in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
The same phenomenon exists with the Paleostinians. Those marching in the West talk of "intifada revolution" and "from the river to the sea," etc. Yet, the Paleostinians are often at each other’s throats. Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...has famously killed many associates of the Paleostinian Authority (PA) and the PA has done the same to its Islamic rival, most recently when it was trying to show its muscle in Jenin and Tulkarm. While they all seem to hate the Jews, the Paleostinian factions oftentimes sincerely hate one another.
As is common in Arab and Bedouin cultures, life revolves around the "hamula" or the extended family There is a town just outside of Jerusalem that is completely composed of two families. There are families who associate with Hamas, while there are those who are with the PA. When Israel ran Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
and the West Bank, much of its job was coordinating life via the local muftis or family elders. The religious and family leaders usually lay down the law for the people of their area. The same is true for the Druze community in Israel and beyond.
When the U.S. and Israel set up a food distribution system (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF) in south Gaza recently, a certain Yasser Abu Shabaab appeared. He and his men were the interface between the IDF and Gazooks. The IDF could not be seen around the food distribution centers, but they were needed to secure the approaches so as to protect civilians from Hamas Dire Revenge attacks. As one gets closer to GHF distribution sites where food is given out for free to anyone and not just Hamas associates, that is where Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
comes in. His people protect the areas in south Gaza where Gazooks go to their food. He and his group seem to be armed primarily with AK-47s. They don’t pretend to love Israel and only begrudgingly admit to necessary coordination with the IDF. Abu Shabaab claimed that he was against the October 7th massacre, though I have to admit that I did not look through old newspaper clippings to find if that was true. Right now, Hamas is demanding that Abu Shabaab and his men disarm and report to them. Their response is that they will be the alternative to Hamas when the war is over and the day after actually arrives. Hamas wants Abu Shabaab dead.
Israel has tried to make use of Paleostinian factions in the past. The generally accepted history has Israel setting up Hamas in order to weaken the PLO. One can see how well that turned out. There are now reports of sheikhs from Hebron requesting to join the Abraham Accords as an emirate, with full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Hebron historically has had some of the most
So what should Israel do? Should it simply assume that all Arab groups, families, and states are dangerous and ultimately unreliable? Should she make short-term arrangements that advance Israeli interests and hopefully convert a part of the Paleostinian population into a non-enemy for some period of time? At what point would Abu Shabaab feel that Israel is out of line in Gaza and train its weapons on Jews instead of Hamas members? Israel and the PA had joint patrols as an outcome of the Oslo Accords. When a fake report came out about Ariel Sharon blowing up the Golden Dome mosque, PA soldiers fired on their IDF counterparts. If Israel makes some type of agreement with the sheikhs in Hebron, could Jews safely visit the areas under their control? It was accepted that if Israel gave the Old City of Jerusalem to the PA during Clinton-era negotiations that nobody would go there if those patrolling were Paleostinian soldiers. Israel ultimately does not want to rule Paleostinian areas, and Bibi Netanyahu said as much this week during his White House visit.
The Israelis made the Oslo Accords, in part, because they were tired of running Paleostinian affairs. The ideal systems as per Netanyahu would have Paleostinians taking care of the mundane business of daily life while all security matters would be in Israeli hands. The Paleostinians in the past have balked at such arrangements and have clamored for independence without showing the seriousness or strength to be an independent state. If Israel runs the Paleostinian areas, it risks its soldiers and representatives; if it turns over the keys to the Paleostinians and grants them police powers, then it risks the guns turning on Jews—as happened with the weapons given to Arafat as part of the Oslo agreements. The question is risk management and how to minimize potential danger to Jews who live in or near Paleostinian areas. There is no perfect solution because many Paleostinians do not want peace and hate Jews more than they want a good life.