The Amazing Rebellion of the Palestinian Sheikhs

The demise of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority

I want to focus on several incredible developing stories in the Gaza Strip and in Hebron that are potential game-changers for the Palestinian people and for Israel.

Perhaps out of the horror of October 7th may come one of the most radical set of Muslin initiatives since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

First let’s take a look at Hebron’s rebellion which is directed against the corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA).

This simmering insurgency became somewhat public last March. It is a stunning and inspirational development for those who care about peace and democracy in that part of the world.

A number of sheikhs who call Hebron their home are the instigators. Hebron is a center of religious piety. It’s where the revered Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews as the Cave of Machpelah.

This is a place worshipped by Christians, Jews and Muslims as Abraham bought the plot for the burial of his wife Sarah. He is buried there too. Muslims regard Abraham as the sacred father of their religion.

The Jewish prophets Issac, Jacob and their wives are also buried there.

The most astonishing development is that eight Hebron breakaway clans representing 204,000 people wish to create a separate Hebron “emirate.” A second list of 13 other sheikhs who represent 350,000 people as another part of the separatist movement.

They are actively seeking to free themselves from the corrupt PA and seek to establish direct, close ties with the Israeli state as members of the Abraham Accords. It’s a truly inspiring development.

Elliot Kaufman, a Wall Street Journal board member along with the Jerusalem Post’s Yonah Jeremy Bob who reported on the developments in Hebron in an astonishing column in the Journal’s July 7 opinion page.

They write, “’We want cooperation with Israel,’ says Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad,” adding, “We want coexistence.” The 21 sheikhs have sword allegiance to al-Jaabari.

Kaufman and Bob report that the leader of Hebron’s most influential clan is doing something remarkable. “Sheikh Jaabari and four other leading Hebron sheikhs have signed a letter pledging peace and full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Their plan is for Hebron to break out of the Palestinian Authority, establish an emirate of its own, and join the Abraham Accords.”

They add, “Many more sheikhs have joined the initiative since March, and the leaders are confident they have the Palestinian Authority outmanned and outgunned. ‘The people are with us,’ one sheikh says. ‘Nobody respects the PA, nobody wants them.’’”

At age 89, Mahmoud Abbas, the “President” of the PA and was elected in 2005 and was supposed to hold elections four years later in 2009, according to the Oslo Accords.

But Abbas has corruptly ruled for more than 20 years without any elections. Today, he is one of the oldest world leaders and he has been facing widespread calls among Palestinians for him to quit.

The sheikhs believe now they have the Palestinian people on their side.

Also enraging the Palestinians is that Abbas and his circle have dishonestly enriched themselves with corrupt deals over the last 20 years. Many of the corrupt deals were arranged by Abbas’s predecessor PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

At his death, Arafat was estimated to be worth between $1 to $3 billion, according to CBS “60 Minutes.”

His daughter, Zahwa Arafat, is worth $8 billion which she reportedly inherited from her father, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She owns prime real estate in London and lives in Paris.

Kaufman and Bob report that the Sheikh’s hope for an emirate was given to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, the former mayor of Jerusalem. Barkat has met some of the Sheikhs in his home and met with them more than a dozen times since February according to the Journal report.

“The Emirate of Hebron shall recognize the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” the Sheikhs write, “and the State of Israel shall recognize the Emirate of Hebron as the Representative of the Arab residents in the Hebron District.”

There is a portion of Hebron that also is a Jewish quarter. Since 1967 when Hebron was liberated by the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six Day War, for the first time in decades Jews were permitted to live there. In 1929 Jews fled the city when anti-Jewish riots by Arabs murdered, raped and tortured the city’s Jewish population. It was a precursor to the brutal October 7 attack.

Jews have wanted to peacefully live alongside their Hebron Muslim neighbors since 1967, but the PA and Arab terrorists have closed off the city from the city. IDF troops regularly patrol the Jewish quarter to protect them from violent Islamic Jihad radicals. Perhaps the sheikhs will finally be welcoming to the Jews in Hebron as they are welcomed in other Abraham Accord countries.

But along with this West Bank rebellion are anti-Hamas revolts that also are being led by many Palestinian clans, particularly in southern Gaza.

As an indication of the fall of Hamas is a British Broadcasting Corporation remarkable report filed on Sunday, July 6. The BBC - a media organization largely sympathetic to Hamas and hostile to Israel - quoted an anonymous Hamas Lieutenant Colonel who claimed his terror group “has lost about 80% of its control over the Gaza Strip and that armed clans are filling the void.”

Importantly, he also commented on the world’s silence about the imminent political collapse of the terror group and of the chaos unfolding in the Strip: “the world is silent, the Arab regimes are silent, criminal gangs are everywhere, society is collapsing."

Last Wednesday, July 2, the Times of Israel also added that something pivotal is unfolding in the Gaza Strip: “For the first time in nearly two decades of Hamas rule in Gaza, large, heavily armed clans are openly defying the terror group, through both public statements and armed confrontations. The opposition marks a serious challenge to Hamas’s ability to maintain local control and comes amid the group’s declining military strength and waning popularity among Gazans.”

The Times adds, “The clans, which are typically linked by distant kinship and shared patriarchal lineage, serve as crucial sources of economic and social support. For many, clan identity surpasses the national Palestinian cause.”

Let’s look at the Palestinian clans in Gaza.

On July 6, JFeed, an independent Israeli news organization, reported that Yasser Abu Shabab, who controls an anti-Hamas militia, declared in a radio interview that Hamas was "a hollow illusion... a balloon about to burst."

JFeed added, “Abu Shabab leads a growing faction of disillusioned Gazans—armed and organized—who say they’ve had enough of Hamas’s ‘injustice and corruption.’ According to him, the group’s only allegiance is to the Palestinian people, not any political ideology or party. ‘We support any legitimate force that seeks to remove the injustice from our people,’” he said adding, “There will be blood. We will pay the price to free our people.”

Shabab in an interview with Ynetnews published on July 3, attacked Hamas, Iran and the largest Islamic Jihadi political party in the Middle East called the Muslim Brotherhood. “We believe every member of Hamas should face the same charges—for collaborating with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, which are hostile to our people and to our national interests,” he said.

In response, Hamas has targeted Shabab. The Jerusalem Post reported on July 2, “Hamas’s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that a court has issued a 10-day ultimatum to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a Gazan militia, to surrender or face trial.

Shabab has responded defiantly. “We will continue to fight Hamas even if there is a ceasefire,” according to Israel Breaking News.

Then there’s the Barbakh clan.

The Times of Israel reported on July 2, “The Barbakh family lashed out against the terror group in a post on a popular anti-Hamas Telegram channel. The Times quoted Barbakh’s warning to Hamas: ‘the Barbakh family has paid the price for its positions and has been subjected to Hamas repression. The time for a response has come.’”

Another opponent is the Khalas clan, which has held long-standing hostility towards Hamas and is close to the Palestinian Authority. While many in the West Bank despise the PA and its President-for-life Mahmoud Abbas.

According to Ynetnews, “The broader Khalas family is closely linked to Fatah; among its most prominent members is Ahmad Khalas, known as Abu Maher, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee.

While some clans are allied with the corrupt PA, they also are mounting a major resistance force to Hamas.

Then there is Yasser Khandak who is a local Fatah operative. He

is leading a pro-Palestinian Administration group against Hamas in Khan Younis.

Overall, the BBC is painting a dark picture of the status of Hamas. In its interview with the Hamas senior officer, he told the British news agency, "Let's be realistic here - there's barely anything left of the security structure. Most of the leadership, about 95%, are now dead.”

“About the security situation, let me be clear: it has completely collapsed. Totally gone. There's no control anywhere," he added.

He painted a dim picture of Hamas and noted that the payment of salaries has been delayed, an important incentive for those who collaborate with the terror group. “So, the security situation is zero. Hamas's control is zero. There's no leadership, no command, no communication. Salaries are delayed, and when they do arrive, they're barely usable. Some die just trying to collect them. It's total collapse."

The realities on the ground may be the most decisive factor in whether the terror group and the Palestinian Authority stays or leaves.

This is revolutionary stuff. Stay tuned.