In Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital, everything is bustling. The yellow taxis go up and down at the rhythm of honking; the young people laugh and shout at the school doors; Shops open, customers buy, pedestrians walk through the middle of the roundabout in Al Manara Square (the epicenter of the city) while the police talk among themselves, oblivious to everything that is happening.
And yet Ramallah, the West Bank, this part of Palestine, is a ticking time bomb.
At least six young Palestinians between the ages of 17 and 29 were killed yesterday by Israeli fire after clashes in the Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem and the border with Israel. There have been 519 deaths this year, 111 minors, making it the most violent in the West Bank for two decades.
In the West Bank everything seems to be getting better. And Hamas gains followers.
When asked if Hamas’s position in the war is approved, in the West Bank 85% support it, and in Gaza, 52%. In the West Bank, Hamas triples its support from three months ago and if those who believe in violence as a way to solve the conflict are 60% among Palestinians (up 10 points compared to before October 7), they reach 70% among West Bankers.
It is a survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) after conducting 1,231 interviews in the Strip (collected during the ceasefire) and the West Bank. And he has credit.
Its director, Jalil Shikaki, who speaks slowly and who receives this newspaper in his office full of books in Ramallah, explains it like this: “[The rise of Hamas] we expected it, but not so much. It is a clear success and reflects what the West Bank is experiencing. “It is expected to fall after the war, but we do not know by how much.”
He also explains that it happens especially among young people between 15 and 25 years old, but not only. And especially if there is unemployment – ??something increasingly common – and if there is violence from settlers or raids by the Israeli army, which have been repeated this last year. And he emphasizes that his support is greater in the southern West Bank, in the Hebron area, a more populated, more religious area and closer to Gaza. “Although it happens everywhere,” he continues.
In Ramallah, however, it doesn’t seem that way. There is war in Gaza, but the city barely sees in Al Manara Square itself a poster with photos that criticizes: “We are not numbers.”
Malek is 26 years old and is sitting in a cafe five minutes from the dusty station that receives buses arriving from Jerusalem. He wears a French-style cap, a carefully groomed beard, is blonde and looks more like a resident of any European city than Ramallah. He shares a table with his friend Mohamed. They talk and don’t drink anything. They are 26 years old, they detail, and “yes, support for Hamas is growing, but not in a political way,” he says.
So how do they grow? “It’s nice to see people who give a little hope, and Hamas gives it or is thought to give it,” she continues. Is it because of the Gaza war? “There is no hatred for Gaza. It’s sad and it’s tiring. This is our country, whether we like it or not. We know where we live. “It is not impossible for the West Bank to become infected, but there is no fear.” They don’t want to explain more. And trying to talk about the same thing with someone on the streets of Ramallah means receiving many no’s: “I don’t speak English”; “politics, no”; “but if it’s about war, no.”
“[In surveys] we only ask about what is thought, not about what is done. And we do not see that support for violence has been transferred to behaviors, although violence is expected to grow. Not sustained violence as it was in the past, but with more specific cases of violence,” says Shikaki.
The same survey gives, however, another key that is noticeable in the streets of Ramallah. This time in an internal key: the dissolution of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is supported by 60% of Palestinians, the highest percentage ever seen in the survey so far. And the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas is supported, according to this center, by 90% among Palestinians and is even higher in the West Bank. There is satisfaction, on the contrary, with Ismail Haniye, the leader of Hamas, and Yahya Sinuar, the leader in the Gaza Strip and his strong man in the war.
Fatah’s Maruan Barguti is still the most popular figure among those surveyed.
What can you expect? Activism against the ANP? “We don’t see it and it can’t be ruled out,” Shikaki says without denying anything. Everything is open. And the reasons he cites, several, fit into one: “The ANP is absent.”
He is criticized for not raising his voice more for Gaza. Even though he is not on the border with Egypt to help. Or that it is not heard in cases of settler violence. Furthermore, given the crisis that the region is suffering due to the Israeli road blockade and the absence of visitors and everything that has been added since last October 7 – “we are all suffering,” a hotel receptionist summarizes resignedly –, the perception does not dissipates
It is also recalled that a few days ago an ANP police officer was shot dead in Jenin. Armed groups are suspected of possibly being supported by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A year ago a police station burned down. And even ANP corps are prevented from entering places like the Jenin refugee camp – again –.
For now everything is isolated cases. And you don’t know what you want. “There is no evidence that there is going to be an implosion inside. And it cannot be ruled out either. Perhaps they want to create instability with Israel. It is not known,” explains Shikaki.
And to ask about it in the streets is to find silence, once again.
