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PA, Hamas Vie for Support of Palestinian Clans

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

JNS.orgThe Palestinian Authority and Hamas are competing to win the support of large Palestinian clans in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The competition comes in the wake of the talk about handing control over the Gaza Strip to local clans after the removal of Hamas from power.

The P.A. and Hamas understand that the backing of the clans is crucial for maintaining their control over the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. That’s why P.A. and Hamas leaders have always treated the large families and their leaders with utmost respect. In some instances, clan leaders were elevated to the unofficial position of supreme judges and arbitrators, replacing the official judiciary and law enforcement of both organizations.

The Israel-Hamas war has undermined the Iran-backed terror group’s grip over the Gaza Strip. Hamas is no longer functioning as a de facto government in the coastal enclave, and most of its security and civilian institutions are in a state of paralysis.

The assumption among some Israelis and Palestinians is that the decline in Hamas’s power would pave the way for the re-emergence of the clans as significant players in the Gaza Strip.

According to sources in the Gaza Strip, a few clans affiliated with the P.A. and its ruling Fatah faction have begun challenging Hamas over the past few weeks. These clans, known to have dozens of armed members, began operating their own enforcers in some towns and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip to prevent looting and other acts of anarchy and lawlessness. At least one clan was reportedly involved in escorting some of the trucks loaded with humanitarian aid that entered the Gaza Strip through Egypt and Israel.

Alarmed by the possibility that some of the families in the Gaza Strip may start cooperating with Israel or the P.A., Hamas leaders have been pressuring clan leaders to declare their support for the terror group publicly. Indeed, a statement issued by several clans in the Gaza Strip recently announced that they stand behind Hamas and the Palestinian “resistance” groups.

The P.A. leadership, for its part, has also been working to gain the backing of the clans, especially those in the Gaza Strip. In recent weeks, P.A. officials in Ramallah have been exerting pressure on the leaders of several Gaza clans not to cooperate with either the Israel Defense Forces or Hamas.

On March 4, 2024, the P.A.’s official media reported that “Palestinian tribes have renewed their pledge of allegiance and support for the sole, legitimate, political leadership represented by President Mahmoud Abbas.”

According to the report, the “tribes stressed their rejection of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s plan, which aims to form a civil administration in the Gaza Strip on the day after the war.”

On the same day, P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, in opening remarks at the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Cabinet, thanked Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip for allegedly refusing to cooperate with Israel.

How many clans signed on to the statement pledging allegiance to the 88-year-old Abbas is unclear. It is also not clear whether these clans represent a large portion of the Palestinian public in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A single clan could have more than one leader—some affiliated with the P.A. and others with Hamas.

What is clear, however, is that the clans will be required to play some role in the administration of the Gaza Strip after the war. Hamas may try to hide behind them as part of an attempt to return to power. Similarly, the P.A. is expected to step up its pressure on the Gaza clans to distance themselves from both Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians have been calling the P.A.-Hamas struggle to control the clans harb al-ashaer (war of the tribes). Both the P.A. and Hamas seem to understand that their success is tied to the clan leaders.

Originally published by The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

The post PA, Hamas Vie for Support of Palestinian Clans first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East

A Patriot missile battery. Photo: IDF.

i24 NewsAmerican Patriot missile defense batteries will be moved from South Korea to the Middle East, according to reports in Asian media on Friday, amid speculation over a potential military action against Iran’s nuclear program and escalating bombardments of Iran-backed jihadists in Yemen.

US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, and the United States has moved additional warplanes into the region.

Washington and Seoul have reportedly recently agreed on the “monthslong” partial deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, in what is understood to be the first known case involving the relocation of United States Forces Korea (USFK) assets to the Middle East.

Iran in recent years has largely dropped the pretense of enriching uranium for a civilian atomic energy program, as it’s reportedly teetering on the nuclear precipice. Israel believes that a nuclear Iran represents a grave existential threat, consistent with the exterminationist antisemitism of the Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel rhetoric.

After the election of Trump, a known Iran hawk, the likelihood of an U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has increased precipitously.

The post US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled

The Azerbaijani capital of Baku. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 NewsIran enlisted the services of a Georgian drug trafficker to carry out an assassination of a prominent Azerbaijani rabbi, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing security officials.

The plot to murder Rabbi Shneor Segal, foiled by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in early January, also involved a plan to attack a Jewish education center, the officials said.

The plot was set in motion by an officer with Iran’s Quds Force, who met with Georgian criminal Agil Aslanov, handing him a photo of Segal and detailed instructions on how to murder him, the officials cited by WaPo said. Aslanov’s fee for the foiled hit was $200,000.

The State Security Service said the two men “worked to collect information about a member of a religious community, and sent the location of his residence and workplace to a representative of a foreign special service agency via the appropriate mobile phone application.”

Iran is known to be behind multiple plots against Israeli and Jewish targets, many of which have been foiled by Israeli and foreign security services.

However a recent plot saw three citizens of Uzbekistan murder an Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates on Iranian orders. The three were sentenced to death earlier this week for the murder of Zvi Kogan in November.

The post Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 NewsIsrael’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart to Washington DC on Sunday directly from Hungary—where he is presently on an official visit—to meet with US President Donald Trump, i24NEWS learned on Saturday from an Israeli source.

The visit comes following a phone conversation between the leaders on Friday, and a call with State Secretary Marco Rubio a short while ago.

As a result, the planned visit to Washington of Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz will be postponed once again.

Topics of discussion between the two leaders are expected to include the possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Gaza war and the future of the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, the US bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi jihadists in Yemen, and the recent imposition of tariffs on Israeli products.

The post Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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