A new Palestinian politics could change Israel too

Why am I, an Israeli, writing about Palestinian political parties? Because I care about the Palestinian people and about the creation of an independent Palestinian state — and because there is only one solution to this conflict that can provide freedom and dignity for Palestinians while preserving Israel as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people, with full equality for all its citizens: two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

I am also writing because Israelis and Palestinians do not live in separate political universes. The politics of the two societies are deeply intertwined. What one side says and does — and what it fails or refuses to do — directly affects the politics of the other.

When Israelis elect leaders who deny the existence of the Palestinian people, support annexation and speak about removing Palestinians from their land, they strengthen those Palestinians who argue that Israel understands only force. When Palestinians glorify armed struggle, celebrate attacks against civilians or continue to speak about eliminating Israel, they strengthen those Israelis who insist that there is no Palestinian partner for peace.

Extremists on both sides feed each other. Each side points to the other as proof that compromise is impossible. Breaking this destructive cycle requires political courage, but it also creates an opportunity: positive change on one side can strengthen the forces for change on the other.

Israel will hold elections before the Palestinians. Israelis will vote on October 27, while Palestinian legislative elections are scheduled for November 28. But Palestinians can influence the atmosphere in which Israelis vote, beginning now — through the parties they establish, the leaders they elevate and the political commitments they make.

Israeli leaders have failed to demonstrate that Israel is ready to be a genuine partner for peace. The Netanyahu government has offered Palestinians occupation, settlements, displacement and permanent conflict rather than a credible political horizon.

But that failure gives Palestinians an opportunity to show something different: that despite the horrors in Gaza, the violence and dispossession in the West Bank, and decades of disappointment, there is a Palestinian constituency prepared to lead the way toward peace.

This is not about relieving Israel of its responsibility to end the occupation and recognize the Palestinian people’s right to independence. It is about Palestinians exercising their own political agency and refusing to allow Israel’s rejectionists to determine their future.

Palestinian politics desperately needs renewal. Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and most of the existing factions are the political movements of yesterday. They belong to another political era and continue to speak in the language, symbols and slogans of struggles that have failed.

The armed struggle has not liberated Palestine. It has brought enormous suffering, death and destruction to the Palestinian people. October 7 and everything that followed should leave no doubt about the catastrophic consequences of believing that violence against Israelis will bring Palestinian freedom closer. The result has been the opposite: Gaza devastated, the Israeli right strengthened and Palestinian statehood pushed further away.

Hamas has no credible political program for liberation, reconstruction or democratic government. Any party that seeks the disappearance of Israel, justifies attacks on civilians or insists on maintaining an independent armed force cannot be a legitimate partner in building a democratic Palestinian state. There must be one elected government, one law and one legitimate armed authority: the state.

Fatah also needs fundamental change. It deserves recognition for adopting diplomacy and accepting a two-state framework, but it has become associated with an aging leadership, corruption, political paralysis and the absence of democratic accountability. If Fatah wants to earn the right to lead the Palestinian people again, it must reform itself, renew its leadership and make an unambiguous break with the imagery and language of armed struggle.

A simple but powerful step would be to remove guns from Fatah’s flag and symbols. A political movement that seeks international recognition for a Palestinian state should present itself as a movement of democracy, institution-building and peaceful liberation — not as an armed organization from the 1960s.

Palestinians need new voices, new visions and new leaders, including far more young people and women. They need parties committed to democracy, clean government, accountability, nonviolence and Palestinian independence. They need leaders who tell their people the truth: Israel is not going to disappear, and Palestinian freedom will not be achieved by denying the Jewish people’s connection to this land or their right to national self-determination.

The peace process must also change. Palestinians should not be asked to accept another Oslo-style interim process — another series of phases, committees and indefinite negotiations leading nowhere. The destination must be agreed upon from the beginning: an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Such a process would need strong international and regional backing, with US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman potentially playing leading roles. Palestinian statehood should be placed within a wider regional framework that includes Israeli-Palestinian peace, normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, regional security guarantees and large-scale economic investment in Palestine, Israel and the wider Middle East.

The process must have a defined timetable, clear obligations and consequences for violations. It should combine Palestinian political and institutional reform with an irreversible path to statehood. Security cannot be postponed until after peace, and Palestinian freedom cannot be postponed until some undefined future date. Both must be advanced together.

New Palestinian movements such as New Path, led by Samer Sinijlawi, offer hope because they are attempting to speak a different political language: democracy rather than authoritarianism, accountability rather than corruption, realism rather than slogans, and nonviolence rather than endless armed struggle.

Whether New Path or other new movements ultimately succeed must be decided by Palestinian voters. But their emergence matters because Palestinians need a genuine choice beyond Fatah, Hamas and the factions of the past.

A reformed Fatah could also become part of this renewal, but reform must be real. Changing a few candidates while preserving the same leadership culture, symbols and methods will not be enough.

If a new Palestinian political force wins significant support on a platform of two states, nonviolence, democracy and mutual recognition, it would resonate inside Israel. It would challenge the Israeli right’s central claim that Israel has no partner. It would force Israeli opposition leaders to answer a direct question: If the Palestinians demonstrate that they are genuinely ready for peace, are you prepared to be a genuine partner as well?

Gadi Eisenkot and other Israeli leaders seeking to replace Netanyahu should be able to say clearly that if Palestinians choose leaders committed to peace, recognition and security, Israel will work with them to end the conflict and establish a Palestinian state alongside it.

That statement should not depend entirely on Palestinian behavior. Israeli leaders must have the courage to advocate peace because it is necessary for Israel’s own future. BBut a genuine shift in Palestinian politics would make the question much harder for them to evade.

Palestinians have every reason to feel betrayed, angry and abandoned. Yet they also possess the power to change the political equation. They can reject the failed factions, failed strategies and failed language of the past. They can choose a leadership that presents the world — and Israeli voters — with a credible vision of Palestinian freedom achieved through democracy, diplomacy and peace.

Israelis must change their politics. Palestinians must change theirs. If both peoples understand that their futures are connected, the coming elections could become more than another competition for power. They could mark the beginning of a new political era — and the beginning of the end of this conflict.