Beware the Emirati-Israeli Trap: Which Election or Alliance Including Hamas Would Serve Israel Best?
With the Palestinian elections approaching, the question is no longer simply who will enter the elections and who will emerge victorious. It extends to a more serious question: Could the elections become a political trap that serves the Israeli narrative and provides it with a new pretext to claim there is no Palestinian partner for peace?
The situation becomes even more sensitive with talk of contacts between Hamas and the Democratic Reform Movement within Fatah, led by Mohammed Dahlan, amid reports of discussions about forming an electoral list or alliance encompassing various Palestinian factions.
Herein lies the Emirati perspective, given the well-known relationship between Mohammed Dahlan and the UAE, and the political maneuvers his faction is leading in preparation for the next phase. It is politically and journalistically legitimate to ask: Is Abu Dhabi indirectly working through Dahlan’s influence to reshape the Palestinian political landscape?
There is insufficient public evidence to definitively conclude that there is a joint Emirati-Israeli plan to manipulate the election results. However, the overlapping of regional and international interests necessitates a cautious approach to this possibility and a refusal to allow any external power to exploit the Palestinian elections for its own agenda.
The most dangerous scenario, however, is that an electoral alliance including Hamas could provide the Israeli right wing with the pretext it has been seeking for years: the claim that the entire Palestinian society is now under Hamas’s influence, and therefore there is no Palestinian partner with whom to negotiate.
This narrative could then become a political cover for a widespread escalation in the West Bank, beginning with raids, arrests, and military operations, and extending to settlement expansion, land confiscation, pressure on the population, and perhaps even displacement from new areas.
In that case, the danger would be greater than just the election results; the outcome could become a link in a political and security chain that begins with the slogan “there is no partner” and ends with an attempt to impose a new reality on the ground and eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Therefore, what is needed is not to intimidate the Palestinian people from participating in the elections, nor to prevent any faction from participating, but rather to build a clear national framework that protects the elections from Israeli and regional manipulation and ensures they serve as a tool for unifying the Palestinian people, not for deepening the division.
Any Palestinian alliance should be measured first and foremost by its ability to protect the national project, restore independent Palestinian decision-making, and present a political discourse capable of addressing the world, not by its ability to garner the largest number of votes.
Beware the Emirati-Israeli trap, if anyone seeks to transform the Palestinian elections from an opportunity to restore unity and legitimacy into a new pretext for undermining the Palestinian cause.
The real question is not simply: Who will win the elections?
But: Who will benefit from the results, and what will happen in the West Bank after the results are announced?
التاريخ 26-8-2026
