What is the Palestinian Authority and why does it matter?

The Palestinian Authority (PA) was created in 1994 after the Oslo Accords of 1993-1995. It is currently led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

It was intended as temporary five-year organisation to govern Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza ahead of the declaration of a Palestinian state.

But when the final-status negotiations failed in 2000, the PA became a permanent organisation, including its own security apparatus.

Three decades later, the authority has fallen short of those early hopes. It only controls parts of the West Bank and is hugely unpopular with Palestinians, who accuse it of supporting Israeli security crackdowns, failing to defend Palestinian freedom, and carrying out human rights abuses.

In December 2024, the PA began a large-scale security campaign in Jenin, the West Bank’s third biggest city. Its main focus was the refugee camp, targeting the Jenin Battalion, an armed group fighting against the Israeli occupation. 

The city itself was besieged as PA security forces fought fighters, raided hospitals and shot at civilians. The PA said the campaign was to address “security chaos” and involved “pursuing outlaws”.

Then, in January, Israel launched the largest assault on the West Bank since the Second Intifada two decades earlier. Operation Iron Wall, as Israel calls it, has targeted four camps and forced 40,000 people to flee at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, the PA has continued to raid Jenin and other West Bank cities amid the ongoing Israeli offensive. It marks the first time the PA and Israeli army have worked in parallel against anti-occupation armed groups in the West Bank.

When was the Palestinian Authority created?

In 1994, Israel and Palestine signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement (also known as the Cairo Agreement), itself part of the wider Oslo II Accord. Under the agreement, the West Bank was divided into three areas, some of which were assigned to the PA:

- Area A: This contains 21 percent of the land, which falls under full PA administrative and security control. It includes the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin and, along with Area B, is home to the West Bank's population of 3.1m Palestinians

- Area B: This 18 percent of the land is under partial PA administrative control; Israeli security controls Palestinian villages and rural areas.

- Area C: The final 61 percent is under full Israeli administrative and security control, including borders, external security, Jerusalem, and settlements.

It was also decided that talks regarding the transfer of these areas to Palestinian control would take place in 2000. 

The navigable map below, produced by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in November 2024, shows the complexity of the West Bank due to the occupation and illegal Israeli settlements (the PDF can also be accessed here).

The planned discussions would also address borders, settlements, the status of Jerusalem, the Israeli military presence, and the Palestinian right of return among others.

Who were the first leaders of the Palestinian Authority?

The leadership core of the new authority was drawn from returning exiles and predominantly the political group Fatah. Dominating Palestinian politics for the past three decades, Fatah was led by Yasser Arafat, the then-chairman of the umbrella group the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Arafat was elected PA president, while members were elected to the governing Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

He spearheaded the fledgling authority but died in late 2004: he never lived to see the PA’s legislative and presidential elections that were eventually held in 2006.

What was the structure of the PA?

The PA initially made a strong start, including a 132-member legislature and other institutions such as a judiciary.

Iyad Al-Riyahi, director of the Social and Economic Policies Monitor, told Middle East Eye that its citizens especially benefitted from improved social services and welfare programmes, greater public freedoms, and a political system based on the separation of powers.

Also of note were the Palestinian National Security Forces, which included national security (public order and city borders); internal security (civil defence forces); and general intelligence (security analysis).

The PA also had its own economic system, introduced under the 1994 Paris Protocol, an economic annex to the Oslo Accords. The authority has two major sources of income: clearance revenues (the taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the PA); and foreign aid from the region and beyond. 

The PA is still heavily reliant on each of these - but each has been withheld when Israel and the international community want to exert pressure on the authority.

What happened at the talks in 2000?

In July 2000, talks were held at Camp David, the weekend retreat of the US president, between PA chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak. 

But the two sides failed to agree: in particular the status of Jerusalem, parts of which were regarded as the capital for a future Palestinian state, proved a key issue.

The collapse of the talks, as well as a provocative visit by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon to al-Aqsa, sparked the Second Intifada in September 2000.

The Palestinian uprising continued until 2005: by then at least 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis had been killed, marking a major turning point for the fledgling PA.

Political analyst Hani Al-Masri, of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, is close to current decision-making circles within the PA. He says it was during the Second Intifada that Arafat realised Oslo had failed and instead opted for resistance.

“Arafat saw Oslo as a framework for mutual commitments, unlike Mahmoud Abbas’s approach today,” he explains.

But Arafat’s decision, says economic expert Naser Abdel Karim, led to donor countries freezing financial aid to the PA (its top donors during its first two decades were the EU and its institutions, followed by the US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). 

In 2003, the peace initiative tried to work towards a return to the pre-Intifada status quo - but Israel and the US refused to negotiate with Arafat. Instead, in February 2003, Washington pressured Arafat into appointing a new prime minister: Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas rejected the Second Intifada, later calling it “one of our worst mistakes”. He led the US-sponsored talks with Israel’s then-prime minister, Ariel Sharon, but was criticised by Arafat, the Palestinian parliament, and the public for his willingness to concede on key issues such as Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and his push to disarm Palestinian groups.

In September 2003, as his power struggle with Arafat worsened, Abbas resigned both as prime minister and from the Fatah Central Committee.

But by late 2004, Arafat was seriously ill and besieged by Israeli forces at PA headquarters in Ramallah. Eventually, he was flown to France and died in November 2004, despite treatment. His death is still regarded by many as suspicious.

How did Mahmoud Abbas come to power?

In 2005, Mahmoud Abbas was elected PA president - but in contrast to his predecessor, was, and still is, opposed to armed Palestinian resistance. 

Al-Masri says that since Abbas assumed office, the PA has taken “negative steps forward with additional commitments he believed would lead to statehood”.

By 2010, Al-Masri says, Abbas was convinced that the dream of a Palestinian state was impossible. But instead of choosing confrontation with Israel, he chose steps to ensure his political survival that ultimately resulted in greater dependency and coordination with Israel.

Why does the Palestinian Authority not control Gaza?

In 2005, Israel decided to withdraw its settlements in Gaza for security reasons and also to avoid having to negotiate peace. The PA was now in control.

But in 2006, Hamas, the biggest Palestinian rival of Fatah, became Gaza’s largest party after legislative elections, and wanted Ismail Haniyeh to become PA prime minister. 

Fatah members, who held key positions within the PA, refused to cooperate, and violence between the two sides broke out in 2007.

Karim told MEE that the crisis deepened PA’s financial troubles, which had begun when Arafat leaned towards armed resistance and donor countries froze financial aid.

The crisis persisted until 2008 when Salam Fayyad’s government took over and introduced reforms. These included prioritisising PA funds for use in the West Bank instead of Hamas-run Gaza, a move backed by Israel and the US.

For most of the past two decades, Hamas has been the key Palestinian power in Gaza, while the PA has overseen Palestinian affairs in the West Bank.

What is the current state of the Palestinian Authority?

All these changes have brought the PA to its current state. Outside its own immediate circles, it lacks credibility with most Palestinians and is seen as close to Israel.

Its security apparatus especially is seen as allied to the Israeli state. According to a 2021 report by the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity, the security sector has the largest share of the PA’s budget, accounting for 22 percent.

Al-Riyahi told MEE that the relationship between the PA’s branches has now become completely distorted. “The PA has become a totalitarian system, without a legislative council or an independent judiciary. The security apparatuses are now the ruling power, while citizens are burdened with taxes without receiving adequate services in return.”

Instead, al-Riyahi said, the PA clings to a survival strategy despite Israeli actions that undermine agreements, both political and economic, and the continued increase in Israeli settlements and land appropriation in the West Bank, both of which are illegal under international law.

Suhail Khalilieh, an expert on settlements at the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, says that Israel, instead of eventually transferring Area C to the PA, as intended decades ago, has annexed these parcels of land, jeopardising still further any possibility of negotiating final-status issues.

The area taken up by settlements has increased from 77km² just before Oslo to 210km² now, while a further 30km² has been used for bypass roads. The separation wall has taken a further 120km², and the surrounding land 700km².

What has been the role of the PA during Israel’s war on Gaza?

When Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Abbas condemned the violence. "We reject the practices of killing civilians or abusing them on both sides because they contravene morals, religion and international law,” he said. His statement came during a visit to Jordan, ahead of meeting then-US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the attack by declaring war on Gaza. Abbas later suggested that Hamas was to blame for giving Israel an excuse to bombard the Gaza Strip, displace its residents, and persecute them. He has repeatedly called for a ceasefire, criticising Israel for carrying out a "genocidal war" against Palestinians.

Less than a month after the start of Israeli military operations, the PA began cracking down on protesters within the West Bank who demonstrated against Israel’s war.

The mounting anger against how PA security coordinated with Israel brought thousands onto the streets across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where protesters rallied outside local PA offices and Israeli military checkpoints.

On 17 October 2023, Mahmoud Abu Laban, a demonstrator, was run over in central Ramallah by PA forces and killed. That same day, the PA attacked protesters with live ammunition, tear gas, and stun grenades, killing a 12-year-old girl during protests in Jenin, and seriously wounding another youth in Tubas.

The PA has continued taking drastic measures to suppress Palestinian resistance, with efforts that many see as enforcing Israel’s actions. In December 2024, the PA launched a large-scale security campaign in Jenin, besieging the city, shooting at unarmed civilians and clashing with local fighters. 

PA forces killed several Palestinians and injured many more for over a month before a wide-scale Israeli raid, dubbed "Iron Wall", began in late January.

Moreover, the PA told the US it is ready to "clash" with Hamas if that is the price needed to take power in Gaza, during a pitch to President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy. The plan, presented to Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Riyadh by Hussein al-Sheikh, envisions the Gaza Strip ruled by a committee whose majority is from outside of the enclave.

How is the PA’s relationship with Israel?

The PA recognised Israel’s legitimacy as a state following the 1993 Oslo Accord (Israel has not supported a state for Palestinians, especially one led by the PA).

Since then the PA has only strengthened its relationship with Israel. 

Its operation in Jenin in December, the PA said, was meant to "maintain public security and order, establish the rule of law, and prevent sedition and chaos in the Jenin camp".

In late January, the PA worked with Israeli forces raiding and besieging hospitals in Jenin, the first time it appears it had publicly participated in an Israeli military assault in the West Bank.

The siege, described as the harshest yet, saw hundreds of displaced people arrive as the incursion began, with many forced to sleep in hospital corridors.

Despite attempts by the hospital administration to coordinate the delivery of food, the Israeli military prevented it from reaching those inside. Israeli channel Kan reported that the Israeli army encouraged the offensive in Jenin. The siege is now over but the assault in Jenin is ongoing at the time of publication.

Other PA actions echo Israeli policy. In January 2025, the PA temporarily suspended broadcasting of Al Jazeera TV in the West Bank, accusing the news service of publishing "inciting material", according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Seven months earlier, in May 2024, Israel banned the broadcaster’s website inside its borders after raiding its office in East Jerusalem and confiscating equipment. In August 2024, Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah and ordered it to cease operations.

The PA criticised the Qatari broadcaster for its coverage of PA security forces attacking Palestinian fighters in the Jenin refugee camp. Less than a week later, the magistrates court in Ramallah ordered the closure of several Al Jazeera websites for four months.

How is the Palestinian Authority seen on the world stage?

Internationally, the PA has faced less hostility than it has in Palestine.

In 2012, when the United Nations General Assembly endorsed an upgraded status for the PA from a “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state”, Abbas praised the decision for symbolising a “last chance to save the two-state solution”.

Abbas and his delegation could be seen celebrating the achievement, while Israel and the US stood against the vote.

Abbas said: “We did not come here seeking to delegitimise a state established years ago, and that is Israel. Rather, we came to affirm the legitimacy of the state that must now achieve its independence, and that is Palestine.”

The US has had a rocky relationship with the PA. Although Washington says it supports the two-state solution, it has not backed the PA’s efforts to achieve statehood at the UN. Under the first Trump administration (2017-2021), the US took punitive measures against the PA, including closing the PLO office in Washington and cutting security funding.

Regionally, the PA maintains warm relations with most Arab and Islamic states. However, it has had disagreements with key actors and major donors, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, over issues of reform and succession planning in recent years.

What is the future of the Palestinian Authority?

Al-Masri outlines several scenarios for the PA: collapse; full cooperation with Israel and the occupation; or partnership with other Palestinian groups to reform Palestine’s internal structure.

“The ideal option is to combine negotiations and resistance,” Al-Masri said. “The PA’s legitimacy has been eroded, and the gap between it and the people continues to widen.”

But he believes such necessary change is unlikely, given the PA’s lack of will to hold elections. Instead, security will be tightened further after events in Jenin refugee camp, with more campaigns across the West Bank, widening the divide between the PA and Palestinians.

When will Mahmoud Abbas step down?

Abbas turns 90 in November. Due to his age and concerns for his health - he is a life-long smoker - there has been much speculation as to who might succeed him. 

Additionally, his current term expired 16 years ago, but a failure to hold elections has allowed him to remain in power. He has weathered several crises and, despite unpopularity among Palestinians, shows no signs of stepping down.

Who will replace Abbas?

Two names have emerged as possible candidates. First is close aide Majed Faraj, the head of the PA's General Intelligence Service. 

There is also Hussein al-Sheikh, current number two of the PLO as secretary general of its executive committee.

But Abbas has given no indication as to which, if either, he favours. And there are likely to be other challengers once he leaves office.