How Israel is bypassing the PA
Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Gen. Yoav Mordechai launched a Facebook page that seems to assist the Palestinians with their daily struggles, but some Palestinians have accused it of having other goals.
After Israel withdrew from most of the Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank following the Oslo Accord in 1993, engagement between the Palestinians and the Israelis became confined to border crossings between the Palestinian territories and Israel, such as the Erez crossing in northern Gaza and the Qalandia checkpoint located between the West Bank towns of Ramallah and al-Ram.
Israel communicates with the Palestinians at the checkpoints and online. Examples of the latter are the Facebook page of Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), his Twitter account and his official website, which are visited by thousands of Palestinians daily.
On Nov. 11, the COGAT Facebook page posted about 10,000 job opportunities in Israel for Palestinian workers and listed the conditions required; it seems that this page has turned into an official Israeli platform to directly address the Palestinians.
The Facebook page was set up in March 2015, along with a phone number and an email address for Palestinians to communicate their requests. Over 72,000 people have liked the page and have interacted with its posts by commenting on the shared pictures and news.
