Colonial regimes have long understood that the most effective way to administer territory is for the locals to control themselves. From India to Brazil, western colonialists have historically created governing infrastructure that allowed the natives a high degree of self-governance, as long as they maintained the interests of the invading power. This exploitative model is not confined to the history books: a version is flourishing in the West Bank today.
Since its creation as an interim self-governing body after the 1994 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority has managed the West Bank with a non-transparent quasi-government that operates in close coordination with Israel and America. Traditionally, colonial regimes lavish a select group of natives with wealth and privilege in exchange for them controlling their own people. In practice, this is how the PA now operates.
Visualizing Impact, a Beirut design studio that blends data science and graphic design to create easy to digest infographics for social media, just released a graphic highlighting the ways that the PA keeps Palestinians occupied. According to the new graphic, the PA spends as much on its security apparatus as it does on education and health care combined. The PA does not control its own borders or airspace, so its security budget is mostly spent patrolling the streets of Palestinian enclaves and arresting Palestinians at Israel's behest or those organising protests against PA president and PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Since 2005, the United States, the European Union, Israel and Jordan have trained a PA paramilitary force with the goal of having Palestinians suppress other Palestinians. In the mid-2000s, the project was directed by US general Keith Dayton.
According to the 2011 Palestine Papers, Gen Dayton’s mission was to train a Palestinian military force that would cooperate with Israel. While he achieved that objective, he also created a force that has been accused of torturing Palestinians for dissent against the PA’s leadership. Today, Gen Dayton’s forces arrest rank-and-file Palestinians accused of challenging the PA’s rule on a regular basis.
During the recent months of Palestinian stabbing attacks and fresh Israeli assaults in the West Bank, the PA’s intelligence chief Majid Faraj said his forces had detained well over 100 Palestinians. The intelligence chief also implied that the PA was working closely with Israel to prevent the collapse of the PA, evidence that Gen Dayton’s mission continues to succeed.
The situation for civil society under the PA is equally dire. In 2014, there were 90 recorded PA abuses of press freedom, which included the imprisonment, harassment and beatings of several Palestinian journalists. Non-violent protests in front of the PA buildings have been routinely broken up with force and activists have been arbitrarily detained. According to the International Crisis Group, up to 10,000 Palestinians were detained by Mr Abbas’s forces between 2007 and 2010 for alleged support of rival organisations such as Hamas. There have also been crackdowns on social media criticism of Mr Abbas. In 2013, at least two people were jailed for sharing attacks of Mr Abbas on social media.
The situation in Gaza under the Hamas government is equally horrifying, but the dynamics of Israel’s control manifest differently in Gaza. Since Israel removed its settlements in Gaza but reinforced its military blockade of the coastal strip in 2005, Tel Aviv has been less interested in co-opting Hamas. As such, Hamas has been focused on its own grip on power. Given Israel’s extensive settlement blueprint in the West Bank, the relationship with the PA is fundamentally different.
The Visualizing Impact graphic quotes chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat as saying that “we [the PA] have had to kill Palestinians to establish one authority ... we continue to fulfil our obligations”. The quote might be taken out of context but the fact remains that the PA has dutifully fulfilled its obligation to Israel’s security interests in the West Bank while remaining above accountability of the people.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, 67 per cent of West Bank Palestinians say they live in an undemocratic system that curbs the will of the people and their personal freedoms.
Mr Erekat was recently quoted in Defense News as saying that 68 per cent of Palestinians want Mr Abbas to resign. This is hardly remarkable considering Mr Abbas is entering the 11th year of his four-year term. But the PA strongman is 80 years old and has signalled a willingness to step down. Who will fill his shoes?
If the PA is a subcontractor of Israel’s occupation and waves of violence continue to engulf the West Bank, there is little chance that Israel or the United States will allow a truly representative government to take hold in Ramallah. Any change in leadership, in their perspective, will create a security vacuum that necessitates a strongman.
For all the talk that the Oslo peace process is dead, the legacy of the agreement is thriving in the West Bank. If Israel’s intention was to create a native enforcer of its colonial regime, then it has succeeded in the PA. While Israeli leaders and their supporters in America might bemoan the lack of a peace process or the fractured nature of the PA, it is nothing more than a simple diversion, for the PA has been used to serve Tel Aviv’s interests.
jdana@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @ibnezra
The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
1.
|
United States
|
2.
|
China
|
3.
|
UAE
|
4.
|
Japan
|
5
|
Norway
|
6.
|
Canada
|
7.
|
Singapore
|
8.
|
Australia
|
9.
|
Saudi Arabia
|
10.
|
South Korea
|
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Boston%20Strangler
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Matt%20Ruskin%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKeira%20Knightley%2C%20Carrie%20Coon%2C%20Alessandro%20Nivola%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
Saturday results
Qatar beat Kuwait by 26 runs
Bahrain beat Maldives by six wickets
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by seven wickets
Monday fixtures
Maldives v Qatar
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Bahrain v UAE
* The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
Fixtures
50-over match
UAE v Lancashire, starts at 10am
Champion County match
MCC v Surrey, four-day match, starting on Sunday, March 24, play starts at 10am
Both matches are at ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City. Admission is free.