Israel to work to prevent collapse of Palestinian Authority

Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Sunday decided that Israel would
work to prevent the collapse of the Western-backed Palestinian
Authority (PA), but did not offer any concrete steps to do so.
Israel has been stepping up military operations against
armed groups in the occupied West Bank, where the PA has limited
autonomy.
The volatility has laid bare the weakness of the PA in the
face of hundreds of Palestinian militants and the expansion of
Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Netanyahu’s office said his security cabinet had decided to
act to prevent the collapse of the PA, though it was not a
unanimous decision. His coalition includes far-right parties
that oppose Palestinian statehood.
Eight members of the top-level forum voted in favor, with
one voting against and one abstaining.
The statement said Netanyahu and his defense minister would
bring forward “steps to stabilize the civil situation in the
Palestinian arena,” but did not give any specifics.
Set up 30 years ago as part of interim peace accords with
Israel, the PA has seen its popularity shrivel amid allegations
of graft, incompetence and widely hated security cooperation
arrangements with Israel.
There is also uncertainty over the position of 87-year-old
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas has defied prophecies of an end to his two decades in
power and refused mounting demands to go, even as prospects of a
lasting peace with Israel look more distant than ever.
In an interview with CNN broadcast earlier on Sunday, U.S.
President Joe Biden warned that the PA “has lost its
credibility, not necessarily because of what Israel’s done, just
because it’s just lost its credibility, number one, and, number
two, created a vacuum for extremism.”
“It’s not all Israel now on the West Bank, all Israel’s
problem, but they are a part of the problem,” he said, referring
to nationalist cabinet members bent on expanding Jewish
settlements.
For Palestinians, Netanyahu’s far-right government has made
worse an already bleak outlook, with violence surging and Jewish
settlements set to expand in the West Bank – among territories
where Palestinians hope to build a future state.