In Palestine, politics is dying

In the spring of 2025, the Palestinian political landscape appears more fragile than ever. Between ongoing divisions, institutional paralysis, and the loss of popular confidence, Palestinian politics appears to be entering a slow demise, with roles and responsibilities eroding in favor of stagnation and calcification.

After years of division between Gaza and the West Bank, the idea of a unified national project has eroded. Elections are absent, legislative institutions have fallen silent, and factions have become administrative entities rather than forces for political change. What was previously called the "Palestinian political system" no longer enjoys real legitimacy in the eyes of a broad segment of the population, especially among the younger generations, who view the old political parties as symbols of failure and division.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank continues to erode internally under the weight of administrative and economic divisions, while Hamas in Gaza governs under a stifling blockade that makes it more concerned with survival than building a genuine national project. In both cases, politics has become little more than crisis management, with no real prospect of renewing legitimacy or achieving national unity.

The Israeli occupation, in turn, is exploiting this reality, continuing to expand settlements and undermining any prospects for a genuine political solution. In light of the lack of Palestinian unity and the world's preoccupation with its internal crises, the national project is retreating step by step, while time accelerates in favor of facts on the ground that are difficult to change later.

Amid this political turmoil, a new and dangerous phenomenon has emerged: the Palestinian leadership's detachment from the pulse of the street. Decision-making centers are no longer based on live interaction with the people's demands and daily concerns. Instead, they operate within narrow internal calculations, driven more by fear of collapse or loss of control than by the drive for renewal or change.

Today, while calls to think outside the box and explore new horizons are growing, the leadership appears trapped within its old boxes. It no longer measures its presence through a public referendum, but rather through its ability to manage a renewed crisis with minimal losses. In the absence of a unified national project, political renewal has become a mere survival tactic, not a strategy for building a future.

Thus, politics gradually loses its true essence: to be a tool for representing the will of the people and fulfilling their aspirations. In the absence of this essence, "politics" becomes merely the management of successive crises... until it is devoid of any real capacity to influence or change.

Elements of the failure of the Palestinian political leadership

This bitter reality did not arise from a single moment, but rather from the accumulated failure of both political leaderships: those who called for armed resistance and those who adopted peaceful methods.

First: The failure of advocates of armed resistance

• Lack of a comprehensive political strategy: relying on military responses without a clear vision for the post-confrontation period.
• Transforming resistance into an end rather than a means: continuing the fighting without linking it to concrete political goals.
• Loss of popular support: due to the high human cost and the siege.
• Regional and international isolation: Failure to gain real political support for the cause.
• Narrow factionalism: prioritizing the interests of organizations over the interests of the national project.
• Stagnation of the tools of struggle: reliance on traditional means without developing parallel paths such as popular resistance and diplomacy.
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Second: The failure of advocates of peaceful methods

• Over-reliance on external factors: waiting for solutions from the international community despite its lack of genuine will.
• Negotiating from a position of weakness: without having effective leverage.
• Corruption and ossification of institutions: This has weakened people’s confidence in the peaceful process.
• Lack of a clear national project: the inability to present a comprehensive and convincing vision.
• Detached from the pulse of the street: The leadership has become an isolated class.
• Adapting to the status quo: This has turned the political struggle into mere crisis management without a real attempt to break the deadlock.

Palestinian politics may not yet be completely dead, but it is clearly dying. As this disconnection from the people and this intellectual stagnation persist, the national project itself is threatened with extinction.

Only a renewal of political thought and the rebuilding of institutions on truly democratic and representative foundations can restore hope to Palestinian politics. Only a deep connection to the pulse of the street and the renewal of tools of peaceful or armed resistance within a comprehensive national vision can revive the dream of an independent Palestinian state.

Continuing on this sterile approach will only lead to the death of politics... and perhaps to the loss of Palestine itself.