14. Pressure the PA to Cease Its Authoritarian Abuses

The Palestinian Authority has become even more authoritarian in recent years, arresting and hounding Abu Mazen’s political enemies and harassing civil society more generally in an unprecedented fashion. The enduring symbol of these intensified abuses was the murder of Palestinian activist and outspoken PA critic Nizar Banat in June 2021 in the course of a raid on his house in order to arrest him. These actions discredit the PA, erode its perceived legitimacy among Palestinians, and contribute to Palestinian suffering. They also make it difficult to conceive of a Palestinian state next to Israel that would be stable and capable of sustaining itself, and ultimately damage Israeli and Palestinian efforts to achieve peace and a permanent status agreement.