Foreign Powers Have Failed for 76 Years. It’s Time to Let Palestinians Build Their Own Future

The ceasefire in Gaza marks not just a pause in the devastating conflict, but a critical juncture for Palestinian self-determination. While international attention has focused on humanitarian aid and reconstruction, a more fundamental question looms: Who will lead the Palestinian people forward? The answer cannot come from Washington, Tel Aviv, or Arab capitals – it must emerge from Palestinians themselves.

The current leadership vacuum is stark. The Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, has lost credibility through years of ineffective governance and security coordination with Israel. Meanwhile, Hamas, despite gaining some support during the recent conflict, remains a deeply problematic actor whose violent tactics have brought catastrophic consequences. Neither entity commands broad legitimacy among Palestinians, yet foreign powers continue to try to impose their preferred leadership solutions from above.

This top-down approach has repeatedly failed. The Oslo Accords framework, which established the Palestinian Authority, was meant to be temporary but has calcified into a permanent arrangement that serves everyone’s interests except those of ordinary Palestinians. The international community’s refusal to accept Hamas’s 2006 electoral victory, whatever one thinks of the organization, only deepened Palestinian political paralysis. And current proposals to have Arab forces allied with Israel “secure” Gaza after the ceasefire show that external actors haven’t learned from these past mistakes.

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What’s needed now is space for Palestinians to rebuild their national movement from the ground up. This means allowing civil society organizations, local leaders, and new political formations to emerge and debate different visions for the future without external interference. It means accepting that this process may be messy and may produce outcomes that make foreign powers uncomfortable. And it means acknowledging that sustainable peace requires Palestinian leadership with genuine popular legitimacy – not just leaders who are palatable to Israel and the West.

Critics will argue that allowing such political space risks empowering extremists. But the opposite is true. The suppression of Palestinian civil society and democratic expression has only strengthened hardline elements while weakening moderate voices. When peaceful activism is crushed and elections are perpetually postponed, it should surprise no one that some turn to violence. As we’ve seen in the West Bank, where settler attacks and army raids have intensified, denying political solutions only guarantees more bloodshed.

The international community has a role to play, but it must be fundamentally different from its current approach. Instead of trying to engineer outcomes, foreign powers should focus on protecting the basic conditions for Palestinian political renewal: an end to assassinations of emerging leaders, freedom of assembly and expression, and the ability to hold elections when Palestinians decide the time is right. They should also make clear to Israel that attempting to impose puppet leadership or prevent Palestinian political organization will no longer be tolerated.

This shift requires abandoning some comfortable illusions. The Palestinian Authority cannot simply be repackaged and reimposed on Gaza. The Fatah-Hamas binary, which has dominated Palestinian politics for too long, may need to give way to new political formations. And the assumption that Palestinians will accept indefinite occupation and dispossession as long as they have limited self-administration must be discarded.

The stakes could not be higher. Without legitimate Palestinian leadership enjoying genuine popular support, any agreements or arrangements will prove temporary at best. The cycle of violence will continue, with periods of relative calm punctuated by ever-more-devastating outbursts of conflict. And the fundamental aspirations of the Palestinian people – for freedom, dignity, and self-determination – will remain unfulfilled.

The path forward is clear, even if it makes many uncomfortable: Step back and let Palestinians chart their own political future. The alternative is perpetual crisis and conflict, which serves no one’s interests – not Palestinians’, not Israelis’, and not the international community’s. After decades of failed external intervention, it’s time to recognize that Palestinian leadership must emerge from Palestinian choices. That the future of Palestine will be decided by Palestinians, and Palestinians alone.