Power in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the so-called Palestinian territories, has been divided among three entities: a governing body called the Palestinian Authority, the militant group Hamas, and the state of Israel. But as Israel now seeks to destroy Hamas, it is unclear who would administer Gaza instead.
Council on Foreign Relations — Kali Robinson — May 28, 2024
Summary
Introduction
A complex mix of authorities governs the 5.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank territories. Palestinians, like Jews, trace their ancestry to the geographic area that now forms the state of Israel and the two Palestinian territories. Yet, the Palestinians do not have a universally recognized state, with their aspirations to create one depending not just on Palestinian leadership, but also on Israel and recognition by foreign powers.
Officially, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) represents Palestinians worldwide at international fora, while the Palestinian Authority (PA), a newer institution led by a PLO faction known as Fatah, is supposed to govern most of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In reality, the PA has overshadowed the PLO, and both are deeply troubled; Israel has exercised significant control over the Palestinian territories, de facto and official; and Gaza has been ruled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which Israel and multiple other countries have designated as a terrorist organization. Palestinian leaders will have to grapple with these and other challenges—including succession concerns and yet another war between Israel and Hamas—to deliver their people's dream of an independent Palestinian state.
Timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflictvia CFR Education
What Is U.S. Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?byKali Robinson
What to Know About the Arab Citizens of IsraelbyKali Robinson
Who's in Charge in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank?
It depends on the location. In the 1990s, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo Accords and the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, deals that divided areas of control in Gaza and the West Bank (East Jerusalem excluded) between Israel and the newly created Palestinian Authority, with the expectation that the two territories would eventually constitute a Palestinian state. But with the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict still unresolved, the territories remain formally divided into three areas of control:
Since 2006, the Gaza Strip has been controlled by Hamas, an armed group and political party that was founded during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli rule in 198793. (The name Hamas is an acronym for The Islamic Resistance Movement in Arabic.) The organization was created out of the Palestinian branch of theMuslim Brotherhoodto compete with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a militant faction that simultaneously aims to destroy the state of Israel and create a Palestinian state governed byIslamic law. Hamas explicitly opposes Israel's existence and has perpetrated grievous acts of violence against Israelis. Its October 7, 2023, rampage through southern Israel killed more than 1,200 people and spurred the massive Israeli military response aimed at eradicating Hamas. Governments including the United States, Israel, Japan, and the European Union (EU) have designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
Hamas briefly joined the PA, rising to the head of the authority in 2006 after winning general elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But it split from the authority months later, when the rival faction Fatah, which has long dominated the PA, refused to recognize Hamas's election victory. The two went to war, and though Fatah was able to oust Hamas from the West Bank and maintain its sway over Palestinian affairs there, Hamas's forces prevailed in the Gaza Strip, securing the group's control over the territory. The Gaza-West Bank schism is severe enough that some experts considered Gaza to bepractically a separate statebefore the most recent war with Israeldevastated the territory.
Who Governs Palestinians in Jerusalem?
Straddling the border of Israel and the West Bank, the city of Jerusalem has been populated by both Arabs and Jews for centuries. It holds some of the most sacred sites in Christianity and Islam, as we'll as the holiest sites in Judaism. Today, it is home to many Palestinians and Israelis, though Israel has political control. The peace deal that ended the first Arab-Israeli War in 1949, which was triggered by Israel's founding the previous year, divided the city between Israeli rule in the west and Jordanian rule in the east. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and it considers the complete and undivided city of Jerusalem as its capital due to the Jewish people's deep historical and religious ties to the city. The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea have constructed embassies to Israel in the western part of Jerusalem. Other countries keep their missions in Tel Aviv because of Jerusalem's disputed status.
Meanwhile, Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their state, given its centrality to the Palestinian economy, its significance to Muslims in particular, and its Palestinian population ofmore than 360,000. Nonetheless, Israel's de facto annexation of East Jerusalem makes it subject to Israeli law. Most Palestinians there are designated as permanent residents of Israela status that can berevoked punitively. Most are not citizens of any country; having largely refused Israeli citizenship offered in 1967 orlost Jordanian citizenshipafter Amman renounced its claim to the West Bank in 1988.
Who Oversees Palestinian Refugee Populations?
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) established in 1949, manages Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Syria in connection with local authorities. These camps house Palestinians displaced by the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli Wars, as we'll as their descendants. Some camps, such as the Rafah and Jabalia camps in Gaza, have evolved into built-up cities. Yet, they remain dependent on UN aid, even though some have populations thatexceed one hundred thousand. Close tosix million registered refugeesare under UNRWA's remit, though not all reside in camps.
Host governments handle security in the camps, while UNRWA provides health care, housing, and education. UNRWA itself is officially nonpolitical, butexperts say[PDF] Fatah wields significant influence over residents in some West Bank refugee camps, as Hamas has done in certain Gaza camps. Additionally, UNRWA has for yearsfaced accusations[PDF] that Hamas has co-opted some of its employees and facilities. In 2024, the agency suffereddeep funding cutswhen the United States pulled its support due to Israeli allegations that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas's October 7 attack. Around a dozen other countries initially followed the United States example, but most soon resumed funding after separate reviews by the agency and independent experts said that Israel did not provide evidence for the allegations.
How Does the Palestinian Authority Govern?
The PA is headquartered in the West Bank, where it operates from the city of Ramallah. Officially named the Palestinian National Authority, it comprises most major Palestinian factions, such as Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but excludes militant groups such as Hamas and PIJ. The authority's responsibilities are spelled out in the 2002 Basic Law [PDF] that serves as an interim Palestinian constitution. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas simultaneously serves as leader of the PA, the PLO, and his party, Fatah, which has the greatest representation in the PA of any faction. In March 2024, Abbas's longtime economic advisor Mohammad Mustafa replaced Mohammad Shtayyeh as PA prime minister, a position that gives him little power compared to Abbas. His appointment comes as Washington and other governments push for PA reforms that would improve living conditions in the West Bank and show that the authority could responsibly govern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war.
The PA has become synonymous with corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency,writes Ghaith al-Omari, a former PA official and current senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Many experts say governance began to seriously erode after Abbas became PLO chairman in 2004. Now nineteen years into what should have been a four-year presidential term, Abbas has concentrated power by dissolving parliament, entrenching hiscontrol over the judiciary, introducing laws only by decree, and purging political rivals. In 2021, he blocked presidential and legislative elections that would have been Palestinians first since 2006. Abbas blamed the move on Israeli restrictions on voting in East Jerusalem, though experts say he likely feared he and his party would lose to Hamas. International rights watchdog Freedom House classifies the PA as authoritarian and the West Bank as not free due to poor Palestinian governance and Israel's occupation.
Abbas also oversees the West Bankssecurity forces, which consist of police and other security officers but cannot constitute a conventional military, per the Oslo Accords. They work in coordination with the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), to stamp out Hamas and other armed groups and have also faced accusations of brutality against Palestinian civilians. As a result, many Palestinians view the security forces as instruments of Israel's occupation, rather than as protectors of the rule of law. In addition, Israeli and Palestinian observers alikeblame the weakness of the PAand its security forces for the proliferation of new armed groups that increasingly targeted Israel starting in 2022.
Without full autonomy over Gaza and the West Bank, the PAs powers of economic policy are limited. The authority relies on international aid, which isgenerally conditionedon the PAs recognition of Israel and commitment to nonviolence. However, some donor countries havecut aidin recent years, citing mismanagement by the PA. Meanwhile, Hamas has been blocked from U.S. and EU aid given its status as a terrorist entity, though it has various otherfunding sources, both legal and illicit.
How Has Hamas Governed the Gaza Strip?
After taking control of Gaza, Hamas established political, military, and legal institutions entirely separate from those in the West Bank. Though Hamas set up its seat of government in Gaza City, many top officials have chosen to live abroad full time, including political chief Ismail Haniyeh and diaspora affairs leader Khaled Meshaal, who both live in Qatar. As with the PA and West Bank, Freedom House has also labeled Hamas's government as authoritarian and Gaza as not free. Before the current war shattered all semblance of day-to-day life in Gaza, Hamas had nominally followed the PAs Basic Law, but also implemented a restrictive interpretation of Islamic law that it used to repress therights of women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized groups. In addition, the Hamas government had removed most checks on its power, having suppressed opposition from Gazan media outlets, politicians, civilian activists, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), often throughviolence and arbitrary arrest.
What Is Hamas?
How Much Control Does Israel Have Over Palestinians?
West Bank. Israel officially controls only Area C of the West Bank in full, implementing policy through its Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which also liaises with the PA. However, Israelilegal and military powersextend to all three areas. Israel also has full legal jurisdiction over all Jewish settlers, who total aboutfive hundred thousandpeople in the West Bank and two hundred thousand in East Jerusalem. (A 2016 UN Security Council resolution reaffirmed that Israel's settlements are illegal under international law. The United States, which frequently uses its veto power on the council to block resolutions censuring Israel, abstained from the vote, helping it to pass.) Israeli civil law covers settlers, while Palestinians, even where subject to PA laws, are tried in the IDFs military courts.
Additionally, the Oslo Accords authorized Israel to collect Palestinian taxes for the PA in the areas that Israel controls. However, Israel deducts money from the payments based on a sum that Israeli government experts calculate that the PA spends funding terrorism. This amountusually refersto PA payments to families of martyrs, meaningcivilians and combatantskilled in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and payments to the families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Israel says the payments incentivize terrorism and thereforewithholds[PDF] approximately $100$185 million in Palestinian taxes annually, an amount equal to around 24 percent of the PAs budget.
To protect its own national security, Israel has imposed stringent movement restrictions in both territories. These include numerous military checkpoints in the West Bank, as we'll as a barrier wall that spans hundreds of miles across that territory. An onerous part of daily life for many Palestinians, Israel's security measures limit Palestinian development in the West Bank while creating conditions akin to a nearly closed economy on Gaza,according to the World Bank.
Gaza Strip. Israelcaptured Gazaduring the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and militarily occupied the territory until 2005, when it pulled out its troops and settlers. In the years before its 2023 invasion, Israel implemented various controls over Gaza that it said were needed to prevent terrorism against Israelis. It restricted Gaza's airspace, borders, cellular frequencies, coastal waters, and electricity supply, among other areas. It had also barred locals from entering buffer zones on the border with Israel, which cover around 20 percent of Gaza. Wary that Hamas had been found todivert imported goods and foreign aidto bolster its military capabilities, Israel also prevented Gaza from importing dual-use items, meaning items with potential military as we'll as civilian purposes. Theimport blacklisthad at times included certain foods, medical equipment, and construction materials. Similar but less stringent restrictions still apply to the West Bank. It is unclear what restrictions Israel would maintain on Gaza if it succeeds in dismantling Hamas.
Israel's controls in the Palestinian territories are highly controversial. Proponents of the extensive security apparatus say it hasfortified Israeli national security, while critics say the policiesviolate Palestinian rightsand disrupt essential services. In a2022 report, the UN-appointed special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories went so far as to argue that Israel's two-tiered legal system in the West Bank qualifies as apartheid, a position that has spurred intense debate. Some observers, including U.S. and Israeli officials, have said the report reflects a history ofanti-Israel biasby the United Nations. Since the UN documents release, independent human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israel's BTselem, have also published reports accusing Israel of apartheid.
How do Palestinian leaders approach foreign policy?
TheArab Leagueestablished the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people, and it is this body that represents them at many international fora. At the United Nations, the PLO received observer status in 1974 and non-member observer state status, under the name State of Palestine, in 2012. It still holds this status but receivedadditional, limited rights and privilegesamid a renewed push for full membership in 2024. The United States and Israel both oppose PLO aspirations for full member status. Additionally, 146 of 193 UN member countries have independently recognized Palestinian statehood, with seven doing so in the first half of 2024: the Bahamas, Barbados, Ireland, Jamaica, Norway, Spain, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Meanwhile, 165 UN members recognize Israel, which has been a UN member state since 1949. Most of the countries that deny Israel's sovereignty are predominantly Arab or Muslim. In recent years, Palestinian leaders have urged Arab countries not to normalize relations with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords, as Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates have done. Egypt and Jordan established relations with Israel in 1979 and 1984, respectively.
While the Fatah-dominated PLO was the main organ for Palestinian diplomacy until the Oslo Accords, the PA has sinceovershadowed itto become the de facto representative of Palestinians. Foreign governments largely interact with the PA and shun Hamas, providing aid to Gaza through other channels, such as UN agencies. However, a handful of countries, namely Iran, Qatar, Russia, and Turkey, have open relations with Hamas.
Seeking support for the Palestinian national movement, the PLO has pushed for full UN membership and joined multiple international organizations, including the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Most notably, it acceded to the Rome Statute in 2015, making it a party to theInternational Criminal Court(ICC). At the PAs behest, the ICC hasopened a probeinto possible war crimes committed by Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
How is the PA involved in the Israel-Hamas war?
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Bottom of Form
The aftermath of Hamas's October 7 assault on Israel has reinforced the widely held belief that the PA in its current form has becomebasically irrelevant, in the words of CFR Middle East expert Steven A. Cook. The authoritysat on the sidelinesduring the conflicts first few months, underscoring its lack of power over violent factions such as Hamas and its inability to stem thePalestinian sufferingcaused by Israel's retaliation.
The PAs perceived ineffectiveness, plus Israel's pledge to wipe out Hamas over the October 7 attack, has raised the question of who would run Gaza instead. Trying to establish a Palestinian Authority government in Gaza, with help from Arab states, is probably the least-bad option,writes CFR national security expert Max Boot. Experts have viewed the Shtayyeh governments February 2024 resignation asthe first stepin a U.S.-backed plan for a reinvigorated PA to administer Gaza. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected the idea, proposing instead that Israel maintain indefinite control over the West Bank and Gaza after the war.
What challenges do Palestinian leaders face?
Disunity. Political infightinghas fracturedwhat was once a fairly unified national movement, precluding Palestinian leaders from negotiating with Israel, organizing elections, and articulating a coherent vision to their supporters. Furthermore, apluralityof Palestinians[PDF] call the Gaza-West Bank split the most damaging development for their people since Israel's founding, but past reconciliation attempts by Hamas and the PA all failed, and Israel's new vow to eliminate Hamas has further complicated the issue.
Eroding legitimacy. President Abbas and the multiple bodies he oversees are widely unpopular, aspollingby the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) has shown. More than half the Palestinians whom PCPSR surveyed in June 2023 supported dissolving the PA, which many deride as beholden to Israel. Experts at the International Crisis Group, an independent nongovernmental organization, echoed that sentimentin a February 2023 report: The [PA] has never lived up to expectations that it would become the foundation of an independent Palestinian state; instead, it has become, as its harshest critics contend, a mere subcontractor to Israel in maintaining the military occupation.
Financial matters. As the top employer in the West Bank, the PA directly funds the livelihoods of around 130,000 public-sector workers. Yet, the deeply indebted authorityfaces bankruptcyand is unable to pay full salaries. TheWorld Bank reportsthat the PA needs various reforms to right itself financially, along with additional donor assistance and reduced economic restrictions from Israel.
Succession
Abbas's advanced age and history of health issues have raised concerns about the lack of clear plans for leadership change. Varioussuccession proceduresfor the PA and PLO exist, but Abbas has disabled the institutions that would uphold them. While he has no clear successor, experts say candidates could include Abbas's aide Hussein al-Sheikh and popular Fatah member Marwan Barghouti. In a hypothetical election, more voters would prefer Barghouti,write Arab Barometer pollstersAmaney A. Jamal and Michael Robbins, despite Barghoutis current imprisonment for orchestrating attacks on Israelis.
A failed leadership transition could trigger clashes for power or even the PAs collapse, which experts say could spell disaster despite the authoritys flaws. Whatever else one may say about the PA and its complicity in Israel's colonisation, dispossession and annexation, it provides vital support in the form of jobs and essential services to millions of Palestinians, the International Crisis Group writes. A botched succession would thus be harmful for all main players in this conflict, but most of all for Palestinians in the occupied territories themselves.
Recommended Resources
This UN timeline tracespivotal political developmentsin Palestinian history.
The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA) offers a more in-depth look atPalestinian governance[PDF].
The European Council on Foreign Relations maps themost prominent individuals and institutionsPalestinian politics.
In a two-part series,Haaretzs David B. Green breaks downIsraeliandPalestinianperspectives on Jerusalems status.
Palestinian economist Raja Khalidimakes a casefor establishing Palestinian state amid the war in Gaza in thisForeign Affairsarticle.
ForForeign Affairs, former PA official Ghaith al-Omaripreviews the succession crisisthat could unfold once Mahmoud Abbas leaves power.
Palestinian Authority (PA),
The Governing body of the Palestinianautonomousregions in theWest Bank. Established in 1994 as part of theOslo Accordspeace agreement betweenIsraeland thePalestine Liberation Organization(PLO), the PA also hasde juregoverning authority over the entirety of theGaza Strip, but it has not exercisedde factocontrol there since 2007, whenHamastook control of the region by force. Although the PA was, until then, democratic, Press.Mahmoud Abbashas since ruled by decree and indefinitely delayed elections. By 2011 the PA had built up institutions for a functioning state, but it later suffered repeated financial crises under pressure from Israel and others.
The PA was founded following years of hostility. Secret meetings held inNorwayin 1993 between the PLO and Israel led to the signing of the historic Declaration of Principles (the Oslo Accords), in which the two sides agreed to mutual recognition and terms whereby governing functions in the West Bank and the Gaza Stripoccupied by Israel since theSix-Day Warof 1967would be progressively handed over to a Palestinian council. During that timein what generally came to be known as the Oslo processIsrael and the Palestinians we're to negotiate a permanent peace treaty to settle on the final status of these territories. The agreements between the sides called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take control over most populated areas in the occupied territories. Security for those areas would rest with the Palestinian police, although Israelis would be guaranteed freedom of movement. Several militant Islamic groups, particularlyHamas, denounced the peace agreement.
Administration
The PA is governed by aninterimconstitution known as the Basic Law, which may beamendedby the legislature by a two-thirds majority. The president is elected directly to a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. The president is the commander in chief of the security forces, managesforeign relations, has the power to veto legislation, and may issue decrees when the legislature is not in session. Theprime minister, appointed by the president, and the council of ministers hold primary executive authority, subject to the confidence of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The PLC consists of 132 members elected to four-year terms. According to the 2005amendmentto the Basic Law, the 2006 election was a mixed majority andproportional representationsystem. This resulted in the controversial outcome of Hamas winning 74 seats although it received 44 percent of the vote (againstFatahs 41 percent). In 2007 the Basic Law was amended to make the system fully proportional. A number of seats, defined by presidential decree, areallocatedto Christians, and political parties must include a certain number of women on their lists, including one in the top three slots. Amid Fatah-Hamas factional violence in 2007, Press.Mahmoud Abbasdismissed the government and declared a state of emergency, and thereafter he ruled by decree.
Israeli and Palestinian settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (1995)The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (1995), building off the 1993 Oslo Accords, divided the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into areas A (Palestinian civil and security control), B (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control), and C (Israeli civil and security control).(more)
Regional governance is divided into 16 governorates11 in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip. Per the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Israel (also known as Oslo II), these territories are divided into three types of administration: areas under PA administration and security (Area A), areas under PA administration but joint Israeli-Palestinian security (Area B), and areas under Israeli administration and security (Area C). As a key proviso of the Oslo Accords, PA security forces operate in partnership with theIsrael Defense Forces(IDF), which has included training, cooperation, joint patrols, and intelligence sharing; security makes up one-third of theexpenditureof the PA.
History
Presidency ofYasser Arafat
The PA first assumed some civil functions in 1994, when the Israeli military withdrew from the cities of Gaza and Jericho. Six other cities followed in 1995, and elections we're held in 1996.
The first Israeli withdrawals took place in 1994, from the cities of Gaza andJericho. That same year the PA assumed control of many civil functions, and its autonomous authority was extended to six other cities in 1995. On January 20, 1996, elections we're held in PA-administered areas for the presidency and the PLC. PLO chairman Yasser Arafat was easily elected president, and his Fatah party gained a majority of seats within the PLC.
Arafats presidency was tasked with building the institutions andrapportof the fledgling PA while, per the terms of the Oslo Accords, stemming violence against Israel carried out by Palestinians. Because some Palestinians, especially Fatahs rival organization Hamas, we're unhappy withconcessionsArafat had made to Israel in the Oslo Accords, violence increased in 1996. The continued violence convinced many that Arafat was either unable or unwilling to curb violence, and it contributed to doubts among many that thetwo-state solutioncould actually bring about peace.Benjamin Netanyahu, who campaigned on the slogan Peace with security, was granted a surprise victory in Israel's 1996 parliamentary elections. Aspects of Israel's implementation of the Oslo Accords we're delayed or halted under Prime Minister Netanyahu, resulting in the negotiation in 1998 of theWye River Memorandum, which made Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Stripcontingenton the PAs actions to crack down on violence. Domestic politics in Israel caused the memorandum to be suspended in 1999.
Ongoing violence in the 1990s raised doubts in Israel that the Oslo process would bring peace. The process began to stall, intifada broke out, and the internationalcommunitybegan to push for new leadership in the PA.
Amid a growing sense of distrust and pessimism between Israelis and Palestinians, U.S. Press.Bill Clintonconveneda two-week summit atCamp Davidin July 2000 to hash out final status issues, including the division ofJerusalem. No agreement was reached. Attempting to capitalize on many Israelis dissatisfaction with Prime MinisterEhud Baraks willingness to divide Jerusalem,Ariel Sharonthe leader of the opposition in theKnessetand a former defense minister infamous for his role in the 1982 massacre at a Palestinian refugee campmade a provocative visit to theTemple Mount, where Islams third holiest site sits (seeDome of the Rock). Palestinians we're outraged, resulting in angry demonstrations and the beginning of the secondintifada. By the end of 2001, as the intifada and Israel's response to it had escalated, the IDF had confined Arafat to hisRamallahcompound. He remained there until the final days of his life in 2004.
In 2003, amid intense international pressure for new Palestinian leadership, the post of prime minister was established, and Abbas became the first person to occupy the office. However, he resigned only months later, claiming that his role in the post had been undermined by Israel, theUnited States, and Arafat. Ahmed Qurei, another chief Oslo negotiator, was named prime minister in his place.