Divide and conquer: Israel attempts to court Palestinian clans in occupied West Bank to join the Abraham Accords

In a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat expressed hope that Palestinian clans in the occupied West Bank will join the Abraham Accords, independent of the Palestinian Authority.

"If they cooperate and work with Israel, we will build them a Dubai, and if they fight us, they will end up like Gaza," he declared.

Barkat, who previously served as mayor of Jerusalem, is betting that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank will reach out to the Israelis and join agreements to achieve a better reality in light of the high tariffs imposed by the Palestinian Authority, which drain local manufacturers, in addition to the barriers by the Israeli military.

Palestinian clans, responsible for managing Palestinians' daily social affairs and resolving personal conflicts, have long been a target for Israel.

Historical exploitation

Israeli affairs expert Adel Shadid said to The New Arab that throughout the history of the Zionist movement, even before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, several Palestinian tribes were exploited against the Palestinian national movement during the 1936 revolution.

"Israel may succeed in obtaining the approval of a some individuals with strong ties to Israeli security institutions to pursue such agreements, but ultimately they will not represent their families, clans, or tribes," he argued to TNA.

"This is how the Palestinian people are being fragmented from one nation into scattered tribes, which serves the Zionist narrative that there is no such thing as the Palestinian people," he added.

Similar Israeli agendas were attempted in the past, particularly 20 years ago, when meetings were held by Israeli authorities and individual Palestinians to circumvent the Palestinian Authority, but did not succeed. 

Shadid believes that these individuals who went to these meetings don't represent their families or the Palestinians in general, but rather are a marginal minority that feels protected by Israeli military rule.

"Sometimes these individuals appear as tribal leaders, sometimes as businessmen, and sometimes as clerics. In any case, I don't think this will succeed, but it will weaken the Palestinian position and encourage other Arab tribes and other Arab parties to move toward normalisation with Israel," he concluded.

Abdul Wahab Ghaith, the head of the clans in Hebron, the largest city in the occupied West Bank in terms of area and population, noted to TNA that no one from Israel has contacted the city's well-known clans about such a plan yet.

"I don't think such a thing would be acceptable to any Palestinian, and if it were presented to the clans, they would certainly reject it because it is unacceptable nationally, socially, and morally," he remarked about it.

Ghaith also emphasised that Palestinian tribes are part of the Palestinian people, which has attachment to land and reject any form of subjugation by Israel.

Colonial methods

Village Associations were a model also used by Western colonialism in Arab countries to divide society along sectarian and tribal lines, fragmenting the common goal of the people, promoting private interests over the public, and therefore paving the way to conquer and control societies. 

Village Associations were established in Palestine in 1978 by Israel, with slogans that spoke of helping and supporting Palestinian farmers and developing agricultural methods.

The Village Leagues worked to incite strife among Palestinians of all backgrounds, especially between urban dwellers and farmers. Despite the support they received from Israel, they were rejected by the Palestinian public and were forced to disband in 1981.

Hassan Khreisheh, a Palestinian leader and second deputy speaker of the Legislative Council, noted to TNA that Israel is presently attempting to transform each governorate in the occupied West Bank into "independent emirates", with its leading families in charge.

According to him, the Israeli plan will not work, pointing to how the Village Leagues experiment failed miserably in the past and how now, despite the isolation zones imposed by Israel and the separation of each area from the others, communication and connection between people still exists.

"The Palestinian today can raise his voice and say he doesn't want to join the Abraham Accords or any other coalition, because he has now realised the depth of his identity after the legendary steadfastness in Gaza. He has acquired the spirit of resisting the occupation," he explained.

Nir Barkat's speech and Israel's attempt to impose the day after in Gaza are two similar concepts, according to Khreisheh. However, the clear failure in Gaza, after the clans' voices in the coastal enclave clearly rejected any suspicious plan despite all the pain they endured, reflects the unreasonableness of implementing this strategy in the occupied West Bank as well.

"Israel failed and will fail in creating any new idol that establishes ties with the occupation, because it will immediately be classified among the spies and traitors whom the people have disowned for 77 years," he concluded.