PA accused of failing Palestinians at a time of genocide Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 12:00 Grassroots body condemns Palestinian Authority decisions on elections and 'prisoner and martyr' payments Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is pictured in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on 22 December 2025 (Nasser Nasser/Pool via Reuters) Off A Palestinian grassroots body has warned that recent political and administrative decisions by the Palestinian Authority (PA) risk deepening internal divisions at a moment of “existential challenges” for Palestinians across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the diaspora. In a statement on 23 December, the Palestinian National Popular Action Forum said it was monitoring an ongoing “war of genocide, destruction, and starvation” in Gaza, alongside an intensification of settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank. The group pointed in particular to Israel’s latest plans for 19 new settlements and the displacement of northern refugee camps as part of what it characterised as a broader strategy to dismantle the UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) and erase the refugee question. “In the face of these existential challenges, which require genuine national unity grounded in confronting the crimes of the occupation and its liquidation projects, the official leadership, under Israeli and external pressure, continues to issue decrees, measures, and decisions that starkly contradict the popular will, lack any national or popular consensus and further deepen divisions within the Palestinian arena,” the forum said. The group added that it was concerned about the PA's suspension of payments to the families of "martyrs, wounded Palestinians and prisoners" earlier this year. These payments, the forum said, are not discretionary welfare measures but a “national, moral, and popular duty” rooted in Palestinian law and collective obligation. It also condemned the transfer of responsibility to a government-affiliated welfare body, Tamkeen Foundation, as a “blatant denial” of rights, particularly after its administrators reportedly framed the families as mere “social cases” rather than bearers of national entitlements. Archiving Gaza in the present: The quest to preserve Palestinian memory Read More » The forum further warned that a new decree-law governing local elections effectively excludes large segments of Palestinian society from political participation. It said provisions requiring candidates to declare positions aligned with the leadership’s commitments, including recognition of Israel and adherence to the Oslo Accords, amounted to “an assault on freedom of opinion and belief” and a denial of the right to stand for local office. Further criticism was levelled at plans to form a new Palestinian National Council through appointments, rather than elections, and at what the forum described as compliance with external demands to strip school curricula of their national content. Such changes, it warned, would undermine Palestinian historical narrative, identity and collective memory. “We are living through the most dangerous phase,” the statement said, “[one that] most urgently requires unity, cohesion, and the consolidation of efforts to confront conspiracies targeting our national rights”. In response, the forum pledged to work to overturn these policies and issued a series of calls, including restoring payments to affected families, abolishing the Tamkeen Foundation, boycotting local elections held under the current conditions and defending national educational curricula. It also renewed demands to rebuild the Palestine Liberation Organisation on democratic foundations through elections involving Palestinians at home and abroad. “The Palestinian National Popular Action Forum pledges to continue working, alongside all those committed to safeguarding their national rights, so that the banner of struggle remains raised until the end of the occupation, the liberation of our land, and the full and undiminished realisation of our rights,” the statement concluded. Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0