Updated July 17, 2025 at 6 p.m.*
-OpEd-
BEIRUT — The Wall Street Journal recently published an opinion piece titled “A New Palestinian Offer for Peace with Israel,” with the subtitle: “Hebron’s sheikhs propose to leave the Palestinian Authority and join the Abraham Accords.”
The commentary covers the views of a number of “leading Hebron sheikhs” who say they would be ready to establish an independent entity, or emirate — and even join the normalization process that several countries in the Arab world have done with Israel.
According to the article: Sheikh Jaabari and four other leading Hebron sheikhs have signed a letter pledging peace and full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. “Their plan is for Hebron to break out of the Palestinian Authority, establish an emirate of its own, and join the Abraham Accords.”
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On the surface, this proposal appears to be a local West Bank initiative with a traditional tribal character. But in the background lies an organized and coordinated campaign that in reality originates from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and targets the American audience of evangelicals and conservatives, which coincided with his visit last week to Washington.
This story of “leading Hebron sheikhs” is not new; it has been around for decades. But recycling it now, and in this form, clearly carries a political dimension: restructuring the Palestinian narrative to strip it of any inclusive national character — and transform it into tribal blocs open to individual negotiation.
New model
The context is inseparable from the post-Gaza war reality. Netanyahu’s theory that “Hamas is a strategic asset,” as some Israeli media have put it, has failed — and his bets on dividing Palestinians politically and security-wise have collapsed. With Hamas’s authority eroded after the war, the Palestinian Authority remains the only official body left.
But Netanyahu sees any path leading to a two-state solution as a threat to his political project — and is now trying to promote “artificial alternatives” that may appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump and the American right. Netanyahu knows very well that Trump is not enthusiastic about the two-state solution but loves the idea of “peace through deals,” especially with Gulf countries. Hence, the idea of the Hebron Emirate emerges as a new model — one that is light, digestible and marketable.
The “Hebron Emirate” is a propaganda tool.
Local leaders in cloaks and turbans, ruling their area with economic and security arrangements — an idea that appeals to Trump’s imagination — and reduces the Palestinian struggle to local administration that poses no threat to Israeli interests. Netanyahu is racing against time to undermine what could become a new Trump initiative to revive the two-state solution in a trilateral peace agreement with Saudi Arabia. He knows that the absence of Hamas and the unification of the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority’s banner could make the proposal internationally acceptable.
Worldcrunch 🗞 Extra!
Know more • According to a July 5 commentary in The Wall Street Journal, a group of five Palestinian tribal leaders from the West Bank city of Hebron sent a letter to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat proposing that they break away from the Palestinian Authority and establish an independent tribal emirate in Hebron in exchange for recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and joining the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states. The initiative was reportedly led by Wadee’ al-Jaabari, whom The Times of Israel called “a senior figure in one of Hebron’s most influential clans.”
Yet on July 6, Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that the WSJ article had “sparked an uproar in the city, as many Palestinian residents distanced themselves from the initiative, emphasizing that the individuals behind it are not known public figures in Hebron and do not represent the broader population. Even their extended family members told Haaretz that the report is part of a long-running, failed attempt to install an alternative leadership in Hebron.”
The Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency, reported that the Palestinian tribes in Hebron “firmly rejected the proposal” during a press conference on July 6. Nafez al-Jaabari, a representative of Hebron’s tribes, said that “The Palestinians are a conscious people, and it is unthinkable for them to abandon their cause… We, as the al-Jaabari tribe, declare our complete disapproval and denunciation of what was done by a family member unknown to the tribe and not a resident of Hebron,” he said. — Rebecca Bonthius (read more about the Worldcrunch method here)
Divide and conquer
Netanyahu is reactivating a policy of fragmentation: presenting artificial alternatives (like the Hebron Emirate), inflating the files of the Authority’s frailty and accusations of corruption, and discrediting its leadership through calculated leaks and timing — all to further weaken it in front of local and international public opinion. Settlers will not accept the dismantling of Hebron — and Palestinians will not remain silent about removing it from the political geography of the Authority. The likely outcome: internal explosion, adding to the fragility of the West Bank.
The “Hebron Emirate” is not a realistic project but rather a propaganda tool within a campaign to hinder any progress toward a two-state solution. The beneficiary is Netanyahu — who once again succeeds in marketing the illusion of alternative solutions to delay a real settlement. Trump might be tempted by the proposal, but Saudi Arabia will not buy it without a comprehensive and just resolution to the Palestinian issue.
After the war, the world will face the horrors of Gaza, and the Palestinian state will return to the international agenda with greater strength.
The Palestinian Authority may be weak, but it remains the only internationally recognized Palestinian entity.
Today, the Palestinian Authority may be weak and accused of corruption and mismanagement, but it remains the only internationally recognized Palestinian entity. As for the propaganda illusions, they will quickly vanish at the first field test. Yet underestimating the significance of this step reflects an inability to confront reality and the wait-and-see policy practiced by the Palestinian leadership.
The components of the Palestinian system are dangerously complicated — as if practicing silence in the face of this act — and bear double responsibility if they do not grasp the danger of the Israeli step and action.
*Originally posted July 15, 2025, this post was updated July 17, 2025 with enriched media.
