Silenced Palestinian Voices VI: Survival Mode in the West Bank (2000-2025)

Part 11 of the “Quiet Abandonment” series on the world’s retreat from the Palestinian cause. Part 6 of “Silenced Palestinian Voices.”

The great tragedy is not what is said, but what is never allowed to be heard.

The Intifada Years (2000-2005): Silenced Dissent

The Second Intifada unleashed rage in the West Bank but left little space for internal debate. Hamas rejected compromise with Israel for ideological reasons, Fatah because peace would make it irrelevant. Intellectuals like Sari Nusseibeh, who proposed alternatives to armed struggle, were ignored or ridiculed.

For ordinary families, neutrality became dangerous. A trusted contact told me that in Ramallah and Beit Jala, Arab Christians whispered that "the radicals" on both sides had destroyed their lives, yet rarely voiced these thoughts publicly. One therapist in Beit Jala told him that Muslims were the source of the conflict, but admitted she could never say such things outside her own balcony.

Christians weren't alone. Muslim merchants who wanted nothing more than to run their shops kept silent too. Anyone who questioned violent resistance risked being labeled a collaborator.

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Author’s Note:
This article reflects the voices of Palestinians who spoke with me. I have preserved their words in the terms they themselves used, even when those terms differ from my own framework. Identities have been anonymized where appropriate.

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After Oslo: The Mirage of Statehood

Faith in the Oslo Accords [read more here] collapsed over time. While Palestinian polls haven’t re-asked the Oslo question since Oct 7^th, the last pre-war poll (Sept 2023) found two-thirds saying Oslo harmed Palestinian interests and a majority favouring abandoning it.

Palestinians cannot openly talk about this. In private, taxi drivers and shopkeepers may, as reported by people I trust, dismiss the entire political process as irrelevant: "We don't need a symbol, we need work." But public criticism of the PA, let alone challenging Palestinian nationalism itself, was taboo.

A rare moment of public dissent came in September 2012, when economic protests erupted across the West Bank, directed at the PA, not at Israel. Yet these voices of internal dissent quickly faded, overshadowed by the familiar narrative of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.

The Quiet Cry for Normal Life

Merchants remembered when Israeli Arabs came to shop freely; they envied prosperity across the Green Line. Security, jobs, and services topped their private wish lists, but to say such things aloud risked being shamed. "Don't hang dirty laundry out," one resident told one of my contacts.

In Bethlehem, a knaffe shop owner sold cheaply because customers earned only 9 NIS minimum wage. He dreamed of leaving to study abroad, like so many young Palestinians who saw no future at home. In tiny villages like Janatta, entire economies collapsed after Oct 7^th when the army installed crossing gates that choked off the passing trade upon which these communities depended.

In a Zoom conversation, Zara, a resident of the Palestinian Authority who works with a co-existence NGO, told me, “In childhood, everything was so open. My Dad used to work in Jerusalem. We would spend our weekends in Tiberias. We used to drive; there were no checkpoints. Nothing. Everything was so open. It was so safe." But after 1993, "things started to change on the ground, dividing the West Bank into Areas A, B, C [read more here]. And starting to put structures and divisions and the army and becoming more militarized."

By 2024, economic conditions, not statehood, ranked as the primary concern for more than 60% of Palestinians.

Silenced by the PA

As opposition to the Palestinian Authority grew, so did its repressive response. Zara estimated that "maybe 90% of the society is against the PA, but they cannot express it openly. Maybe more, maybe 99%."

The brutal killing of activist Nizar Banat in June 2021 demonstrated how the PA silences critics. Banat, who had publicly accused Abbas of corruption and called for his resignation, was beaten to death by PA security forces, igniting public protests in Ramallah and other West Bank cities, with demonstrators chanting against Abbas and demanding accountability. The PA's response was swift and violent: security forces beat protesters (including women), fired tear gas, and arrested activists. Journalists were also attacked. Within days, the protests were crushed and the incident largely disappeared from Palestinian public discourse despite international condemnation.

Two years later, large demonstrations in Ramallah on 17 Oct 2023 demanding the resignation of Abbas were quickly quashed with tear gas. Then, in 2024, a doctor was arrested for suggesting that Mahmoud Abbas should "take your millions and go."

One observer said that people “don't feel safe enough to say these things" publicly, fearing PA authorities would "throw them in a cell." The West Bank had become, in effect, "a prison within towns that have checkpoints around them and the prison guard is the PA."

Rather than operating like a government, one Palestinian said that the PA functioned "like a mafia," with security forces visible on every corner maintaining control through intimidation rather than legitimacy. "There is the ‘Authority,’ but there's no leadership," as Zara put it. By May 2025, only 11% of West Bank respondents felt safe, while 60% described the PA as a burden.

Meanwhile, Palestinians abroad shout slogans disconnected from West Bank realities. "There are more demonstrations on the streets of London than in Nablus and Ramallah," one observer remarked bitterly. Diaspora Palestinians in places like Chicago lived different lives entirely, while "the ones who are actually living here face daily constraints in ways outsiders cannot grasp."

Even expressions of solidarity with Gaza faced restrictions. "Since the beginning of the war, people wanted to go out to the streets, express their anger, and the Palestinian Authority stopped these kinds of protests, they didn't allow it," Zara reported. "In the West Bank, we couldn't even do one protest, as Palestinians. It makes me sad that our flag is being flown all over the world in the protests and on balconies in Spain and Portugal, but we can't even have our own flag here, on our building or on a school or in the street."

The Emirates Plan: Economic Pragmatism vs. Political Ideology

The Emirates plan, envisioning city-based rule [read more here] instead of PA dominance, has been discussed quietly for years. In Hebron, tribal notables support partnership with Israel, including promises of thousands of work permits and a Dubai-like economic zone. Critics denounce them as collaborators.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar describes widespread but private resentment against the PA: "People send me emails - men and women - identifying with what I say. They want to know how the Emirates plan would work and say they hate the PA, even those who get salaries from them."

Recently, five Hebron sheikhs publicly proposed severing ties with the PA and forming a self-governing emirate aligned with Israel and the Abraham Accords. But without Israeli support, one sheikh's house was burned by Fatah forces. When I asked Zara about this, she dismissed it: "It would only divide us more. Those five sheikhs can't decide our future just for their personal interest."

While there is open criticism of the idea, some see appeal in pragmatic alternatives. One Nablus resident said: "It's great! People can have work opportunities and better lives." Another was even more direct: "Why doesn't Israel just take it all and make me a citizen! I don't want to vote, I want to work."

Christian and Minority Voices: Intensifying Pressure

The 2019 Jifna attack and repeated vandalism of churches are not reported in PA media, suggesting enforced silence by the PA, protective of its reputation among European and Christian supporters.

By 2025, Open Doors reported that "tensions for Christians increased in the West Bank," making ordinary life harder. Some avoid politics, while others want integration with Israeli society. Their perspectives rarely appear in discourse that assumes uniform Palestinian opposition to Israel.

The Rhetoric of Martyrdom and Private Doubts

Public discourse in the West Bank often glorifies martyrdom, leading some Israeli activists to claim that "Arabs love death the way Jews love life." Kedar noted that while some take hadith about martyrdom seriously, others compartmentalize their faith and political lives. Even mothers praising their martyred children, he explained, "have to talk like this."

This performance extends beyond individual families. One observer referred to a "silent majority that is aware of how ineffectively the PA has fought Israel," yet public discourse continues to valorize violent resistance.

Economic Collapse and Deepening Silence (2023-2025)

After October 2023, unemployment spiked to 31% and movement restrictions crippled businesses. Post-October 7^th restrictions make daily life even more unpredictable. "There are new yellow gates placed at all entry and exit points of the city,” said Zara, essentially locking in entire towns and forcing unanticipated detours.

She explained that government employees, including teachers and hospital workers, "haven't been paid fully for a few months for now, sometimes 60%, sometimes 50%. Even schools this year were delayed because there are no salaries for the teachers."

"Palestinian society is now on survival mode,” Zara exclaimed. “People don't even have the energy to go out and protest because they care about getting food on the table for tomorrow, about getting back home safely; there's so much fear around us, and insecurity."

Moments of shared vulnerability reveal complexity beneath political rhetoric. During Iranian missile attacks in June 2024, Palestinians in one village called over a passing Jewish resident to take shelter with them. One Palestinian cursed Khamenei for not leaving them alone. Zara acknowledged a complex response to Israel's conflict with Iran: understanding why some Palestinians wanted "Israel to feel some of the fear and destruction experienced in Gaza,” while simultaneously feeling afraid themselves since "we don't have shelters or anywhere to go."

Conclusion: The Silence That Shapes the West Bank

From the Intifada's suppression of dissent to the PA's arrests of critics, from economic collapse to the Emirates plan's emergence and denunciation, West Bank Palestinians who long for pragmatism, coexistence, or simply normal life live in deepening silence. Some quietly blame Muslim radicals, others the PA. Few dare speak out except against the occupation.

Kedar notes that Palestinians look at failed states across the region and ask whether a Palestinian state would be any different, yet political leaders resist exploring alternatives. The PA's investment in maintaining nationalist ideology conflicts with growing local interest in pragmatic solutions. Even Zara, despite her criticism of the PA, showed how hard it is to conceive of what Palestinian independence would look like: “I don't care if it's one state, two states, three states, or five states, as long as we have our own state.”

These "silenced voices" are not collaborators. They are people who do not fit the imposed binary of resistance or surrender. They are merchants who remember when commerce flowed freely, families prioritizing education and stability over political symbolism, and professionals who see economic cooperation as dignity rather than betrayal.

If these perspectives represent more than isolated individual views, their absence from public discourse may limit understanding of the full spectrum of Palestinian opinion.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Khaled Abu Toameh, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, and individuals in my network who wish to remain anonymous. Their conversations, insights, and sharing of Palestinian remarks have been invaluable in putting together this article. Special thanks to interviewees, who spoke candidly.

Documenting the silenced Palestinian voices of this period has been much more difficult than for the previous periods of time.

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