Source: Zman Yisrael (Israel Time)

By Pinhas Inbari

We often use the term "the Palestinian problem," but the updated definition has become "the Israeli problem." Israel is turning into a global problem and a source of regional instability – precisely at a time when the world is trying to rein in energy prices.

The lynching of Heidi Levine, the Jewish-American photographer for the Washington Post, by Jewish terrorist rioters near Ramallah over the weekend, and the attack on Western diplomats – all while they steal, with rabbinical permission, the Palestinians' olive harvest – illustrate this.

Anyone who thinks the world will stand by and do nothing should think again. Even the American ambassador most sympathetic to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called these disheveled rioters by their real name: terrorists. The wellbeing of Christians around the world matters greatly to Evangelicals. The Jewish terrorists attacked Christians in Taybeh once again. A red warning light for the Evangelicals.

Anyone who thinks the world will stand by and do nothing should think again. Even the American ambassador most sympathetic to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called these rioters by their real name: terrorists

The irony is that the emerging global demand for a Palestinian state sounds fine, but the Palestinians themselves are incapable of realizing statehood.

The decision by Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to postpone the general elections yet again may prove to be one postponement too many – both in the eyes of the donor countries that fund the PA, and in the eyes of the Palestinians themselves in the West Bank.

After Abu Mazen once again postponed the Legislative Council elections, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Canada and Australia issued a joint statement expressing "deep regret" over the decision and calling on the PA to reverse it and hold the elections without further delay. These are precisely the countries that recognized a Palestinian state in September 2025, conditioning that recognition on reforms and elections.

On October 12, the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency published a special investigation under the headline "The Palestinians Are Incapable of Governing Themselves." The investigation reveals a closed meeting held in London in April 2025, attended by advisers linked to Western governments – from Europe, Canada and Australia – to formulate policy assessments on the future of the region.

According to the testimony of one participant, whose name is known to Ma'an's editors, the question of the future of Palestinian governance came up in the discussions, and the assessment was jarring: the Palestinian people are incapable of governing themselves, because "half of it is corrupt" – meaning the Palestinian Authority – "and the other half is terrorist" – meaning Hamas. According to the same source, this assessment led to the idea of placing the Palestinians under some form of external administration or supervision.

The assessment of the future of Palestinian governance was jarring: the Palestinian people are incapable of governing themselves, because "half of it is corrupt" – meaning the PA – "and the other half is terrorist" – meaning Hamas

Ma'an itself ends the investigation with a pointed question: if there are those who believe the Palestinians cannot govern themselves, isn't the way to disprove this to let them choose who governs them? The very publication of these words on a leading Palestinian site, two days after the postponement decree, testifies to the depth of the crisis.

Meetings with senior Palestinian officials reveal a similar picture. In Ramallah, too, a mood of despair is spreading about the future of the PA. Doubts are growing among its senior figures as to whether the PA can sustain itself on its own, along with the recognition that without Arab assistance in future contacts with Israel, a cure for its ills is unlikely to be found.

These sentiments bring to the table Avigdor Liberman's remarks about possible Jordanian participation in managing Palestinian affairs in the West Bank – not so much the details of his proposal as the principle of "Arabizing" the solution to the Palestinian problem; that is, a solution that comes through the Arab states rather than as the outcome of failed bilateral negotiations.

This is perhaps one of Israel's greatest failures. It held an asset critical to its security, and instead of guarding it quietly and wisely, it let it slip away through arrogance, stupidity and violence. Jewish terrorism, linked to central figures in the government, is what turned the dormant Palestinian problem into a burning Israeli problem – one that demands the world's involvement in imposed solutions.

The PA's inability to govern does not change this. In internal discussions, as in London, the Palestinians will be blamed; in public, Israel will be blamed. Worse still – because the PA blames Israel as the obstacle to elections, and because this time there is already international involvement in resolving the Gaza problem, the road to internationalizing the solution in the West Bank has already been paved.

So what is to be done? To find a way out of the maze, one must internalize that the bilateral track that characterized Israeli-Palestinian relations is dead – and that it must be shifted to a track of regional normalization. Israel cannot be exempt from this, because the tables have turned: this is now more the Israeli problem than "the Palestinian problem."

The bilateral track that characterized Israeli-Palestinian relations is dead, and it must be shifted to a track of regional normalization. The tables have turned: this is now more the Israeli problem than "the Palestinian problem"

Does Jordan want, and is it able, to intervene in Palestinian affairs? Until now – no. But the situation in Jordan has changed as the region has changed. The kingdom's internal problems are worsening, and there too questions are being asked about its fate. Jordan lacks the economic capacity to sustain itself, and the cancellation of Saudi aid about a decade ago deepened the budget deficit to a crisis point.

The Bedouin elite feels threatened. The Hashemite dynasty has not forged marriage ties with the tribes: apart from Prince Hamzah, who is married to the daughter of one of the northern tribes, all the princes and princesses married partners from outside the kingdom. Consequently, unlike the Saudi dynasty, it is not woven into the tribal fabric, which is seething against it – especially among the southern tribes.

Many years ago, a senior Jordanian official told me that the kingdom felt threatened on all its borders – except the border with Israel. Now that too has changed: Bezalel Smotrich's "Decisive Plan" threatens to flood Jordan with a new wave of Palestinian refugees, and in addition, the prestige of the royal house is being eroded by its failure to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Jewish messianic onslaught.

To the south stands Saudi Arabia, hostile to the House of Hashem; to the east, unpredictable Iraq, which has already flooded Jordan with a wave of Shiite refugees and introduced Shiism into it; and to the north, fundamentalist Syria, which is drawing closer to Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who has not forgotten the Hashemites' role in bringing down the Ottoman Caliphate he seeks to revive.

Hence, Jordanian involvement in establishing a bloc to contain Turkey – based on Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians, with a hand extended from afar to Lebanon – is, from Jordan's perspective, the need of the hour. The Jordanian-Israeli relationship today is not a luxury. It is an existential bond – for Israel and Jordan alike.

Jordanian involvement in a bloc to contain Turkey, based on Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians, with a hand extended from afar to Lebanon, is the need of the hour. The Jordanian-Israeli relationship today is not a luxury. It is an existential bond – for Israel and Jordan

The need for Jordanian involvement grows in light of the weakness of the Palestinian leadership. When one tries to examine the day after Abu Mazen, it turns out there is no such day. The day after Abu Mazen is already here. The names circulating as his successors are not of the caliber of genuine leadership – and they are precisely those whom the London meeting placed under the heading of "corruption."

Preferring the "farms" of Jewish rioters over regional alliances is beyond a mistake. It is folly and wickedness. Israel's integration into the regional fabric is not a luxury. It is an existential necessity.

Pinhas Inbari is a senior Middle East researcher, journalist, author, screenwriter and poet. He wrote the entries on the Palestinians in the New Hebrew Encyclopedia and served for many years as a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He has written non-fiction books on the Palestinian problem, as well as a linguistics book on the roots of the Hebrew language, "Sipur Shoresh" (The Story of a Root). The novels he co-wrote with his wife Aviva are "Al Gav Sufa" (On the Back of a Storm), about the challenges facing the Christian communities of the Western Galilee during the British Mandate in the face of radical Islam and the status of women, and "Shomer HaSheol" (Guardian of Sheol), which deals with Israeli corruption.

This article was originally published in Hebrew in Zman Yisrael (Israel Time).