In the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has been cracking down on Hamas, the PIJ, and the PFLP, in what has become a ruthless campaign to suppress his political rivals, by shutting down their events, and preventing them from appearing in the public square. Some have been hauled in for interrogation, others have been detained. 

The PA is now enduring an avalanche of criticism both from those groups, and from Palestinian human rights organizations, over its crackdown.

A report on this internecine Palestinian warfare is here: “PA steps up crackdown on Hamas, Islamic Jihad members,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, November 27, 2021:

The Palestinian Authority has stepped up its security crackdown on members of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the West Bank, drawing sharp criticism from the groups, political activists and human rights organizations.

In separate statements, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), whose members are the prime targets of the ongoing clampdown, called for an end to the measures taken by the PA security forces.

A PA official in Ramallah said that the security measures were designed to “enforce law and order” and “prevent attempts by thugs and armed gangs to undermine the Palestinian Authority and disturb the peace.”

It is not “law and order” that the PA is enforcing but the iron rule of Mahmoud Abbas, who brooks no opposition. The PA violates “law and order” whenever it feels like, in order to suppress even non-violent protests, or even just the public showing of Hamas or PIJ flags or banners, or to rid itself of dangerous dissidents, as Abbas recently did when he had his goons murder Nizar Banat, the activist who, on social media, had been the most damaging critic of Abbas’ corruption. That murder led to waves of protest in the PA-controlled parts of the West Bank.

Abbas was particularly intent on keeping funerals from turning into political rallies against him. At a recent funeral for Wasfi Kahaba, a Hamas member who had died of Covid, armed members of both Hamas and the PIJ showed up in force, in a direct challenge to Abbas that embarrassed and infuriated him. Ever since then, his men have been monitoring high-profile funerals, to make sure there is no repeat of that symbolic challenge to his rule by members of Hamas or the PIJ. .

The PA official dismissed accusations that the PA leadership was exploiting the security crackdown to target political rivals and silence critics….

This PA crackdown was precisely intended to “target political rivals and silence critics.” Abbas knows how deeply unpopular he is. In a recent poll, 80% of Palestinians said they wanted him to resign because of his mismanagement and, especially, his massive corruption. He is deeply resented.

According to Palestinian sources, at least 65 Palestinians have been detained by the PA security forces in the past two weeks. Most of the detainees are suspected of being affiliated with Hamas and PIJ, the sources said.

In addition, more than 50 Palestinians were summoned for interrogation by the PA security forces, especially in the northern West Bank.

Hamas condemned the PA crackdown, dubbing it a “national and moral crime.”

There is no grand principle at stake here. It’s purely a contest over power and money: who is to prevail among the Palestinians — the Slow Jihadists of the PA, or the Fast Jihadists of Hamas and the PIJ? It’s nothing like the political rivalries in the advanced West, between Tories and Labor, or Democrats and Republicans. No, these Palestinians at daggers drawn should make us think only of the Crips and the Bloods.