Hebron Residents Want to Live in Peace with Israel; Palestinian Authority Calls It an ‘Israeli Plan’
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by Itamar Marcus
People hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the West Bank, Oct. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
Earlier this week, Palestinian Media Watch reported on Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari’s plan to abolish the Palestinian Authority (PA) and establish family-run emirates that would recognize Israel.
Although the PA issued no official response a few days ago — and still has not done so today — it is already mounting a counter-campaign: recasting the idea as an Israeli initiative rather than a proposal from Hebron’s influential Jaabari clan.
On Tuesday, official PA TV hosted Palestinian journalist Zahir Abu Hamda, who dismissed the plan as an Israeli creation without mentioning the Jaabari family:
The Israeli plan regarding the West Bank is very dangerous, because they want to establish Palestinian emirates in the West Bank, meaning municipalities of limited size, without political backing, meaning there is no Palestinian state and no Palestinian government. There will be an emirate in Hebron, an emirate in Jenin, in Bethlehem, in other places, controlled by families.”
[Official PA TV, July 8 2025]
The PA apparently anticipated the announcement; before it was made public, PA TV broadcast a news flash — again portraying the idea as Israeli-driven:
The Minister of Economy in the occupation government, Nir Barkat, calls for the dismantling of the [Palestinian] National Authority.
[Palestinian television, July 4 2025]
The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, noted that Barkat has met several times with the Hebron sheikhs and served as Israel’s interlocutor on the proposal.
After a statement and video was released by several Jaabari family members denouncing Sheikh Wadee’s plan, his supporters pointed out that every speaker in the clip was a current or former PA employee — effectively making the video the PA’s rebuttal rather than the clan’s.
Elliot Kaufman of The Wall Street Journal, who published the original report, shared the supporters’ statement on X (formerly Twitter):
The Palestinian Authority managed to issue a statement condemning Sheikh Jaabari’s position—which promotes its [the PA’s] dismantling—through an establishment figure named Arif Jaabari (Abu Basel), who previously served as governor of Hebron and Jericho on behalf of the PA. He was joined by a few other family members who are institutionally connected to the PA, such as senior municipality official Yusuf Jaabari and Nafeth Haidar Jaabari, who has working ties with the governor’s office, as well as a few others from the family with similar affiliations… Nevertheless, the vast majority of the Jaabari family — along with dozens of sheikhs representing most of the families in Hebron and its surroundings—stand firmly behind Sheikh Wadee’ Jaabari and his historic, just, and necessary initiative to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and establish the Hebron Emirate.
The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
