What is happening today in the West Bank is no longer just scattered Israeli security measures, but reveals a trajectory increasingly aimed at targeting the Palestinian National Authority and its institutions and role.
The statements made by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, in which he spoke about readiness to target senior officials of the Authority and its agencies, give this trajectory a clearer and more dangerous dimension. When the Israeli discourse shifts from targeting individuals or pursuing perpetrators of operations to threatening to target the leadership of the Authority and its agencies, the issue becomes greater than a passing security measure; it touches the ability of Palestinian institutions to continue performing their functions.
This trajectory is not entirely new. For years, the Authority has been subjected to continuous financial, political, and field pressures, from the deduction of clearance funds and the economic blockade to incursions and targeting cities and camps, and pressure on its institutions. However, the danger today lies in the fact that weakening the Authority may turn into a direct targeting of what remains of the Palestinian institutional structure.
Here, we must realize that the destruction of institutions does not only mean the removal of officials or changing the government; the destruction of institutions means striking at the very life of the Palestinian citizen.
When security, administration, services, and economic institutions weaken, the political structure does not only collapse, but the life of the citizen is harmed on various levels: security, economic, social, and service. The citizen becomes more susceptible to chaos, poverty, loss of services, and instability, and most importantly, he becomes more submissive to the reality that the occupation wants to impose on him.
The weakening of Palestinian institutions and the creation of a political, security, and administrative vacuum may practically mean granting the occupation a larger space to control the details of the lives of Palestinians, transforming the citizen from a rightful owner living on his land into a person governed by the circumstances imposed by the occupation. Therefore, the battle for institutions is, in essence, a battle for the citizen's ability to survive and endure in his land.
From here, preserving what remains of the Palestinian people's resources must be a national priority. The land alone is not the only resource that must be defended; institutions, cadres, administrative structures, services, and the ability to manage the community are all national resources that have accumulated over the years, and losing them will leave a vacuum that will not only be paid for by the officials but by the citizen above all.
This does not mean in any way canceling political differences or disabling the community's right to criticize and demand reform. Rather, the true strength of institutions is linked to their ability to evolve, respond to citizens' needs, and maintain their trust.
However, there is a difference between disagreeing with the Authority and allowing the destruction of institutions. Mistakes can be corrected, governments can be changed, and performance can be developed; however, the collapse of institutions under occupation may open the door to a harsher reality that is difficult to recover from.
Therefore, what is required today is to manage differences in a way that serves the interests of the Palestinian people, while protecting national institutions from external targeting and simultaneously working to enhance their ability to fulfill their role.
Establishing the citizen in his land cannot be achieved by slogans alone; it requires security, services, economy, education, health, management, and capable institutions. The more these components are destroyed, the easier it becomes to uproot the person from his land.
Thus, protecting Palestinian institutions at this stage is not a defense of individuals or a specific political system, but rather a defense of the citizen's life, his ability to survive, what remains of the Palestinian people's resources, and his right to live on his land without becoming completely subject to the desires and conditions of the occupation.
At this stage, protecting the land, the citizen, and the institutions are not separate issues; they are one battle with the title of survival.
