West Bank leaders, who had been my Palestinian partners during the Oslo process, express grave concern with the ramifications of the Gaza war. They told Al-Monitor that they foresee a growing radicalization in Palestinian public opinion, leaving little support for a negotiated solution. Hamas, in their view, will be strengthened politically, especially in the West Bank. Resistance is becoming more popular than negotiations. These Palestinian leaders, still part of the decision-making process, are deeply worried about the outbreak of Hamas-inspired violence in the West Bank. In their view, that would risk any possibility of a foreseeable negotiated settlement, and would turn the Israeli-Palestinian equation back to the era of perpetual violence.
This unprecedented concern also has a silver lining. The most burning issue in the eyes of these pragmatic Ramallah circles is how to orchestrate the arrangements for the future of Gaza as an integral part of broader Palestinian-Israeli conflict resolution. While the term "interim agreement" is an expletive to all Fatah leadership, they concede that a full permanent status agreement is out of the question at this time. The path to immediate statehood is now of greater urgency.
