Last month, Mahmoud Abbas resigned from his position as chairman of the PLO while keeping his position as president of the Palestinian Authority. He then tried to convene a meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in hopes of winning a vote of confidence, but was blocked when a rival PLO faction refused to attend. Pinhas Inbari explains these machinations and what’s behind them:

The Palestinian leadership has kept clinging to its old agenda and to outmoded institutions as if the struggle for a Palestinian state is the cardinal issue for the Arab world, and not the very survival of the Arab peoples themselves—including the Palestinians—as they suffer assaults from Shiite and Sunni radical armies as well as stream into Europe for refuge. . . .

The immediate reason for the postponement of the PNC conference was the refusal of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to attend. . . . At present the PFLP, together with Fatah of Lebanon, is fighting a war of survival against al-Qaeda, and the political calculations of Ramallah are hardly its overriding concern. . . .

Abbas . . . is [now] threatening to retire from politics and to announce the cancellation of the Oslo Accords as part of his upcoming speech to the UN General Assembly. . . . The planned PNC conference this month and the forthcoming seventh convention of Fatah are aimed, in line with Abbas’s plans, at creating a sense of revivifying the Palestinian leadership. At the same time, Abbas is unable to offer a new diplomatic horizon to the Palestinians or even a temporary solution for their state of affairs.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.