"Emirate of Hebron": A New Fragmentation Project Under the Guise of Tribalism

The Zionist project in the Palestinian territories accelerates with plans that outwardly appear as "local governance" but inwardly aim at "fragmentation and displacement." The so-called "Emirate of Hebron" is one of these dangerous projects that have emerged through Israeli media and the voices of Palestinian figures aligned with the Israeli state, as well as Israelis like Eddy Cohen. The project aims to establish local governance led by tribes or mayors who would serve as a facade of "autonomy" while being exploited as a tool to ignite internal conflicts, ultimately leading to their abandonment and liquidation later.

Dismantling the National Framework for Colonial Control

The idea of the "Emirate of Hebron" is nothing more than a soft facade for an old colonial policy renewing with new tools. The extremist Israeli government relies on dismantling Palestinian national identity by fragmenting social fabric and converting it into tribal or regional components that conflict with one another. This enables the occupation to expand its settlements and seize control over lands, altering the geographical and demographic features of the West Bank without facing real resistance due to Palestinians being preoccupied with their own identities.

Exploiting Division and Deepening Chaos

Israel is playing the card of the Palestinian divide to deepen its project. On one hand, it besieges Gaza and subjects it to open war of extermination, while on the other hand, it continues to implement policies of field executions, daily arrests, and incursions in Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and Hebron. Concurrently, it seeks to present superficial projects for self-governance in the major cities, relying on traditional leadership that can be controlled or disposed of later. All of this occurs in the context of the weakness and political fragmentation of the official Palestinian front.

Why Hebron?

Hebron is strategically significant in the West Bank in terms of population density, tribal presence, and its religious and commercial importance. Targeting it with a fragmentation project is part of a broader plan aiming to carve out parts of the West Bank under the pretext of "civil administration" or "local security," which would later be handed over to complete settlement control.

Previous Experiences Warn Us: Village Leagues and the Functional Division Project

Historical experience tells us that this is not the first time the occupation has sought to plant alternative entities lacking national legitimacy. Such policies were tried before in the experience of the "Village Leagues," where Israel attempted in the 1970s and 1980s to impose local leaders as substitutes for the Palestine Liberation Organization to create a separation between the people and their legitimate leadership. However, the project failed due to popular national awareness and the Palestinian rejection of it, providing clear lessons that the fragmentation of leadership and society does not succeed in the presence of awareness and popular resistance.

Moreover, the "Village Leagues" were not alone in this context; they were preceded and followed by numerous attempts to establish an alternative reality for national leadership, the most prominent of which was the "functional division project" that the occupation authorities tried to implement, transforming Palestinian leadership into merely a "service-oriented" entity without real sovereignty, while Israel remains the security and political decision-maker. This project also failed because it contradicted the aspirations of the Palestinian people for liberation and national dignity, exposing the fallacy of the notions of "economic peace" or "local governance under occupation."

Recommendations: What Is Truly Needed?

1. Forming a united front to confront the project:
All Palestinian factions must hasten to form a united front to confront this project and consider it a red line.
2. Reviving the PLO institutions on national bases:
Activating and updating the institutions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to serve as an inclusive umbrella with a unified political program for all factions that limits fragmentation and systematic sabotage.
3. Launching an awareness campaign and public mobilization:
Enhancing public awareness of the dangers of the "Emirate of Hebron" and similar projects and intensifying media campaigns inside and in the diaspora to expose the occupation's plans.
4. Ending division immediately:
It is impossible to confront the projects of occupation and displacement without ending the political divide and forming a consensus government or a national unity government with a clear resistance program.
5. Conducting inclusive legislative and presidential elections:
One of the most prominent factors enabling the occupation to pass its fragmentation projects is the ongoing absence of wide popular participation in Palestinian decision-making. Therefore, conducting honest and transparent presidential and legislative elections is an urgent national necessity to renew legitimacy and stop the monopolization of decision-making by a narrow group, as well as to strengthen the internal front. The continuation of the current situation and the exacerbation of manifestations of administrative and financial corruption in some governance institutions create a fertile environment for the occupation's penetration and the passing of the "emirates" project in the West Bank.
6. Coordinated Arab and international action:
Calling on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and all friend states of the Palestinian people to reject this project and confront it diplomatically and legally.
7. Activating popular resistance:
Supporting popular resistance in Hebron and its surroundings as the first line of defense against any project that may begin to infiltrate under the name of "tribal governance" or "local stability."
8. Exposing symbols of normalization and incitement:
Revealing the names and personalities that promote this project from within or outside the Palestinian territories and exposing their connections with Zionist entities.

The "Emirate of Hebron" is not just a fleeting idea, but an extension of a deep Zionist plan to undermine all pillars of Palestinian unity. Silence on this project amounts to acceptance of the "cantons" project that could affect every city and village in the West Bank. The conflict with the occupation is no longer only over land but also over identity and awareness.

From here, rejection must transform into organized political and popular action and a comprehensive national plan that restores consideration to the Palestinian liberation project in the face of fragmentation. Today, it is not only required to reject but to act; every Palestinian must be a guardian of their unity and every institution a weapon in the face of fragmentation, as history teaches us that Zionist projects fail when the people rise united.

The "Village Leagues" fell, the "functional division" failed, and the "Emirate of Hebron" project will also fall, provided that we rise united.