Recently, public institutions—including hospitals—in eastern Jerusalem have reported that they have stopped receiving funding from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Meanwhile, Al-Quds University, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian institution, split with the PA by applying to join the Israel’s Council for Higher Education. Pinḥas Inbari explains that these developments suggest that Arab Jerusalemites—whose legal status is intermediate between that of Palestinians and that of Arab Israelis—increasingly see themselves as distinct from West Bank Palestinians:

Saudi Arabia [has] refused to recognize travel documents that are not proper passports. This means that residents of eastern Jerusalem need to choose between a Palestinian or Israeli passport, and they are choosing the Israeli option. The Saudis [have likewise called] for Jordan to give full citizenship to many Palestinians who are not yet considered Jordanian nationals, and that Lebanon is obliged to absorb its Palestinian refugees. . . .

[Meanwhile], the PA headquarters was particularly incensed by the fact that on the “global day of rage” marking the transfer of the [U.S. embassy to Jerusalem], Arab Jerusalemite and Arab-Israeli youths partied with drinking and dancing [at unrelated celebrations in the West Bank city of] Rawabi instead of attacking IDF checkpoints.

As a result, [the PA] government circulated an order requiring Israeli Arabs and residents of eastern Jerusalem to report to the police if they want to rent an apartment in Ramallah or the West Bank in general. In other words, for the first time, the Palestinian Authority has recognized that residents of eastern Jerusalem are part of the Israeli Arab community and could be potentially recruited by Israeli intelligence against the Palestinian Authority.

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.