The Palestinian Authority: Between Exhausting Resilience and Potential Collapse?!

The European Union and donor countries have refused to provide urgent assistance of 300 million euros to the Palestinian Authority, amidst a suffocating financial crisis and the Israeli occupation authorities withholding clearance funds. This opens the door to difficult repercussions for the Palestinian Authority, the most notable of which include: a suffocating salary crisis: where the Palestinian Authority has been struggling for nearly four years to meet its obligations to its employees, meaning that it continues to pay parts of salaries or suspend them entirely, which threatens a societal economic collapse in the West Bank, as well as a failure to pay operational expenses, and an inability to finance the necessary operational expenses for the continued functioning of government institutions and basic services, further increasing the burden and pressures on the Palestinian Authority.

It is becoming evident that the Palestinian Authority faces the danger of collapse, with increasing warnings that the continued withholding and blocking of funds and aid could lead to a complete financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority, threatening security, economic, and social stability. This necessitates a move towards mediations (possibly European) to resolve the financial crisis by receiving the clearance funds from the occupation authorities, or attempting to resort to an Arab or European safety net. The more dangerous aspect is that, should the financial blockade continue - first by Israel and then by Europe and possibly by Arab nations - it could deepen economic dependency, meaning that in the midst of the crisis, the Palestinian Authority may be forced to accept European mediation to receive clearance funds from the occupying state, under conditions of reform and transparency and linking support to governance guarantees or substantial reforms. These are legitimate demands, but their intent is misleading. Europeans view their assistance to the Palestinian Authority as sometimes falling into what they call "support for terrorism." Strangely, European and somewhat Arab pressures coincide with the Israeli occupation's policy of withholding tax revenues, which means further economic siege on the Palestinian Authority and weakening its ability to manage the West Bank. This aligns with the occupation's mechanism to facilitate the atmosphere for annexing the West Bank. Additionally, there may be another issue that Europeans are perhaps concealing; their refusal to support the Palestinian Authority under possibly hidden Arab green light is aimed at deepening security and political coordination and subjugation to Israeli demands, while stifling any tendency or idea towards resisting the occupation or insisting on claiming independence and establishing a sovereign state.

The Palestinian Authority is now at a crossroads and on the brink of collapse. Following the European refusal, the Authority may resort to a phase of "more severe austerity" as part of rearranging its affairs, either by seeking Arab funding alternatives or accepting the conditions of Israeli-European mediation in order to retrieve the withheld funds from Israel.

Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Mohamed Mustafa previously indicated that the next six months will be very tough for the Palestinian Authority, due to several compounded crises, the most important of which are the financial crisis, the withholding of clearance funds, and the deteriorating economic situation that may threaten a collapse of essential services, the crimes of the occupation and settlers, continued assassinations in the West Bank, and the assaults by settlers, in addition to the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip.

The Prime Minister noted that the world's preoccupation with other regional crises reduces international pressure on Israel, calling on the world to assume its responsibilities and stressing that the Authority is confident in overcoming this phase. He considered that promoting the collapse of the Authority serves the occupation, noting that their conditions, despite being difficult, are better than those of other countries.

Finance Minister Dr. Istephan Salama mentioned last month that the tussle over clearance funds with the Israelis has turned into a struggle for survival, with Dr. Mohamed Mustafa's government preparing a comprehensive austerity plan for the public sector with extremely difficult financial steps, based on self-capacity and spending reductions, and stopping any projects funded by the public treasury, attempting to secure these projects through the international community instead of depending on public funds, and striving to maintain a minimum level of financial stability.

Minister Salama praised the steadfastness of public sector employees, civilians and military personnel, considering this a miracle that has so far helped prevent the collapse of the Authority. He called on employees for more patience, but at the same time urged them not to evade responsibilities to ensure the continuation of services! However, these remarks came before the Palestinian Authority faced the European refusal for urgent support!!
The senior officials in the Authority are urging the lower ranks to remain steadfast, but for how long? A cry from an employee voiced by the former union member, a member of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah, Bassam Zakarneh, stated: "In this suffocating reality, resilience is no longer a slogan but a heavy responsibility that we pay for with our nerves, homes, and dignity. As employees and as a people, we stand with our national resilience and understand the extent of the siege and pressures facing the Palestinian Authority; this is a principled position with no retreat. Yet, supporting resilience does not mean silence over pain, nor does it mean that the employee alone bears the cost of the crisis. Today, the employee does not receive a salary but lives off crumbs that are insufficient for days; 2000 shekels cannot build a home, settle a debt, or preserve human dignity; behind this figure lies real pain! A helpless father in front of his children, a mother who cuts back even on essentials, and youth whose dreams are crushed before they start their lives, what kind of resilience is expected from a broken human? What kind of stability is being built on this enormous pressure? We are not criticizing for the sake of criticism! We criticize because silence has become complicity in collapse. The government must prove its presence and take responsibility today. The people want to see actions, not slogans, demanding a visible, comprehensive emergency plan to rearrange affairs, stop legal prosecutions, and the cases of bounced checks against employees, and the bank loans that accumulate interest, which the employee would not have borrowed were it not for their salary guarantee, which they now receive only partially and with difficulty, leading to interest and commissions." Until when?

The National Authority faces a significant and dangerous challenge. If it does not have something in store to save it from collapse, it will inevitably fall, which requires immediate real measures based on self-reliance. It is true that the occupation is doing its utmost and stands as an obstacle to any resilience movement by citizens, but there are actions the Authority can undertake away from the might and tyranny of the occupation. However, before any action, there must be a genuine political will from the Palestinian leadership, prioritizing the supreme national interest over personal or factional interests. The focal point should be restoring public trust and bridging the gap between citizens and leadership through credibility and transparency in managing the limited resources. Thus, it is essential to stop all newly created factional appointments and initiate the formation of a technical committee composed of professional specialists and national technocrats to study the work and feasibility of all ministries, institutions, departments, and civil and military bodies, and embassies in the Authority and the PLO. The aim should be to conclude with results that emphasize merging many institutions together and reducing the number of employees - meaning does the Authority currently need this number of ministries, bodies, departments, and security apparatuses and senior ranks? If so, that will save a great deal of expenses and inject millions into the Authority's treasury, focusing on enhancing resilience, steadfastness, and construction.

Moreover, this committee will also conclude other results that could help rationalize government spending and significantly reduce unnecessary expenses, ensure equity in the salary scale, and focus on small employees to secure a living wage, activate social solidarity funds in partnership with the private sector with complete transparency and national responsibility, combat tax evasion, and focus on promoting the resilient economy by supporting the agricultural sector, encouraging national production and raising taxes on imported goods, and directing banks to provide facilities with government guarantees for productive and household projects.

Finally, but not least, continuing creative diplomatic and political efforts at all Arab and international levels and working to reduce the dependency of the Palestinian economy tied to the Paris Economic Agreement and to free itself from Israeli pressures.