West Bank sheiks offer to leave Palestinian Authority, join Abraham Accords, recognise Israel as nation state

Hebron’s most powerful sheiks have written to a senior Israeli minister expressing their desire to leave the Palestinian Authority and recognise Israel ‘as the nation state of the Jewish people’.

Sheik Wadee’ al-Jaabari and four other top officials in the West Bank’s Hebron city have offered to recognise the state of Israel and join the Abraham Accords. Picture: Supplied.

Five of the most powerful Palestinian officials in the West Bank city of Hebron have said they are willing to leave the Palestinian Authority and join the Abraham Accords, recognising the state of Israel for the first time.

In a major move aimed at peace with Israel, the sheiks have written a letter to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, expressing their desire to transform the West Bank’s largest city into an emirate that “recognise[s] the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people”, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sheik Wadee’ al-Jaabari – one of the most influential leaders in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest region – urged Israel and Donald Trump, who oversaw the Abraham Accords in his first term, to back the plan for self-governance.

“If we will get the blessing of honourable President Trump and the United States for this project, Hebron could be like the Gulf, like Dubai,” Sheik Jaabari told the Journal.

Accepting Israel as a Jewish state goes further than the Palestinian Authority ever has, and sweeps aside decades of rejectionism, the WSJ writes.

The Palestinian Authority has stood as the de facto rules of the autonomous Palestinian regions since 1994 as part of the US-backed Oslo Accords, which Sheik Jaabari and other sheiks slammed as an agreement that “only brought damage, death, economic disaster and destruction”.

The West Bank has been marred by violence that has ramped up since the war with Gaza began, with the sheiks blaming the Palestinian Authority’s failures. Picture: AFP.

They said the PA was forced on the Palestinian people and never brought the prosperity and peace Israel and the US promised – as evidenced by violence along the border and Hamas’ operations inside the West Bank. Sheik Jabbari and his supporters have instead cited Mr Trump’s Abraham Accords as a road map to “coexistence” with Israel. The agreement previously normalising relationships between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

With the West Bank occupied by Israel and seeing daily violence that has only escalated since the war with Hamas began, Sheik Jaabari proposed a trial run that would see 1000 Hebron workers establish an autonomous 400ha economic zone bordering Israel.

If all goes well, the zone would grow to 5000 more residents and then 50,000, with the sheiks pledging a “zero tolerance” policy against terrorism.

Sheik Jabbari accused the PA of supporting terrorist activity in the West Bank.

“I plan to cut off the PA,” he said. “It doesn’t represent the Palestinians.”

Mr Barkat, who has been meeting with the sheiks since February to discuss a potential deal, touted the proposal as a step forward for Israeli-Palestinian relations.

“Sheik Jaabari wants peace with Israel and to join the Abraham Accords, with the support of his fellow sheiks. Who in Israel is going to say no?” Mr Barkat told the WSJ.

“Nobody in Israel believes in the PA, and you won’t find many Palestinians who do either.”

The WSJ reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is supportive of the initiative but remains cautious, waiting to see how it develops.

The newspaper writes that the sheiks say they mostly get along with the Israeli settlers in the West Bank and the settlers will find much to like in the plan, which breaks from the Oslo Accords’ scheme to divide the land. While the Hebron sheiks would gain territory, so would the settlers.

It remains to be seen how the bold proposal will be accepted by the Jewish state and Hebron residents alike, with some from the West Bank slamming it and claiming it “doesn’t represent us”, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The formation of the new zone could also cause problems along the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but the sheiks claim the land disputes can be easily negotiated.

Sheik Jabbari and his colleagues assured Mr Barkat they will be able to drum up support for the proposal, touting it as the only hope to prevent Hebron and the West Bank from becoming another Gaza.

Sheik Jabbari maintains that his proposal is the best solution for his people given that Hamas crushed all hopes for a Palestinian state when it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1200 people and kidnapping 251.

“There will be no Palestinian state – not even in 1000 years. After October 7, Israel will not give it,” he said.

The New York Post