The West Bank on the Edge: A Special Issue of the Journal of Palestine Studies Unpacks the Most Dangerous Transformations of the Conflict and Their Regional Repercussions
The Politics and Society Institute issued today, Tuesday, the fourth edition of its semiannual publication, Jordanian Politics and Society Magazine, published in English. This issue addresses the most dangerous transformations unfolding in the West Bank in the post–Gaza war period, amid the acceleration of settlement policies, the fragmentation of the Palestinian Authority’s institutional structure, and the erosion of the regional framework that has traditionally governed the Palestinian–Israeli conflict.
The issue offers an in-depth analytical reading of an exceptionally fragile political moment, in which geography, demography, and security intersect. In this context, the West Bank is shifting from a managed arena of conflict to a focal point of direct threat to regional stability—particularly for Jordan—amid attempts to impose new facts on the ground that fundamentally affect the future of the Palestinian cause as a whole.
In his introduction to the issue, Abdulkarim Al-Kabariti, former Prime Minister of Jordan and Chair of the Advisory Board of the JPS, examines the profound transformations in Israeli policies toward the West Bank. He argues that what is taking place can no longer be understood as mere conflict management, but rather as an integrated project aimed at reengineering the Palestinian reality through settlement expansion, the dismantling of refugee camps, and the advancement of what he terms “silent transfer” trajectories. Al-Kabariti directly links these policies to Jordanian national security, warning against overreliance on shifts in Israeli governments and emphasizing that the real challenge lies in strengthening the resilience of both the state and society in the face of escalating regional pressures.
The issue opens with an extensive interview with Nabil Amro, the Palestinian politician and senior figure in the Fatah movement, in which he offers a critical reading of the current Palestinian moment. Amro argues that the present developments do not constitute a “new Oslo,” but rather represent a fundamentally different political juncture shaped by unprecedented international pressure and comprehensive exhaustion resulting from the war. He emphasizes that internal Palestinian reform has become a national necessity before being an international requirement, cautioning against managing the coming phase through a politics of waiting or excessive reliance on external actors without rebuilding legitimacy and institutional foundations.
In the Gaza dossier, the journal includes an in-depth analytical interview with Ahmed Yousef, the Palestinian politician and former senior figure in Hamas, who discusses the transformations the movement is undergoing in the post-war period. He argues that the challenge facing Hamas is no longer limited to military endurance, but has expanded to encompass the redefinition of the movement’s role between resistance, governance, and political legitimacy. He also examines the limits of the various “day after Gaza” models currently under consideration, warning that international or technocratic governance arrangements risk perpetuating the crisis rather than resolving it.
Ahmed Jamil Azm, Professor of Political Science at Qatar University, offers an in-depth analysis of the roles played by Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia during the war and its aftermath. He argues that these states managed four parallel strategic tracks: securing a ceasefire, initiating a political process, supporting internal Palestinian reform, and constructing a counter-narrative to the Israeli–American discourse. Azm raises the critical question of whether this situational coordination can be transformed into a sustainable Arab political agenda, rather than remaining a temporary response to a major crisis.
Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher traces the historical evolution of the United States’ position on the annexation of the West Bank since 1967. He demonstrates how Washington gradually shifted from adherence to the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force toward political accommodation with facts imposed by Israel on the ground—a trajectory that has contributed to the erosion of the international reference framework ostensibly safeguarding the two-state solution.
In a strategic study, Mohammad Abu Rumman, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Jordan, analyzes the implications of the war in Gaza and the ongoing escalation in the West Bank for Jordanian national security. Employing the Copenhagen School approach to security, he concludes that the most serious threats do not stem solely from territorial borders, but rather from the fragmentation of the regional environment surrounding Jordan and from attempts to impose demographic and political realities that directly affect issues of identity and the Hashemite custodianship over the holy sites in Jerusalem.
Rasha Fityan Salim, Executive Director of the Institute for Politics and Society and a researcher specializing in political transitions and peacebuilding in Palestine and Jordan, contributes one of the issue’s most provocative articles. She analyzes the rise of the so-called “Hilltop Youth” militias as an unofficial field arm for the reconfiguration of the West Bank, where everyday violence is transformed into a tool for producing a form of “hybrid sovereignty” that undermines the prospects for the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.
Hassan Barari, Professor of International Relations at Qatar University, examines the Israeli agenda in the West Bank by deconstructing the concept of “creeping annexation” as a comprehensive mode of governance that does not require a formal legal declaration. Instead, it accumulates through law, infrastructure, and demographic engineering, effectively foreclosing any horizon for a sovereign Palestinian state while avoiding the immediate costs of international accountability.
The issue also devotes specialized studies to Jerusalem and the Hashemite custodianship. Wasfi Kailani, Executive Director of the Hashemite Fund for the Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, addresses the religious, legal, and political dimensions of the Hashemite custodianship amid escalating Israeli challenges. In parallel, Bakr Ishtayeh, lecturer in the Department of Economics at An-Najah National University and a Palestinian writer and researcher, examines the distortions of the Palestinian political economy in the post-Oslo period, demonstrating how a dependency-based economic structure has been reproduced in ways that undermine any sovereign foundation for the “day after.”
Mohammad Rajoub, Palestinian writer, journalist, and political analyst, examines the paradox of “tense calm” in the West Bank, where organized Palestinian political action is in retreat while settler violence escalates to unprecedented levels. He warns that this apparent calm conceals deferred eruptions of far greater complexity. In a different vein, Rania Al-Shalabi, a researcher in political communication, explores the transformation of technology companies and digital platforms into new sovereign actors in contemporary conflicts, through mechanisms of information control, surveillance, and algorithmic governance.
Talal Aburukbeh, researcher and political analyst specializing in Palestinian affairs and Editor-in-Chief of Tasamuh magazine, addresses the dilemmas surrounding the reform of the Palestinian Authority. He argues that meaningful reform cannot be merely technical or administrative, but must be political in nature, aimed at rebuilding legitimacy and representation. The issue concludes with a study by Walid Habas, researcher at the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR), on Palestinian youth, analyzing the predicament of the post–October 7 generation caught between a blocked political horizon, eroding economic opportunities, and the transformation of individual choices into a collective crisis threatening the continuity of the national project.
This issue of JPS concludes that the West Bank today stands on the edge of an exceptionally dangerous historical transformation, where power politics, the collapse of traditional political frameworks, and the erosion of the regional order converge. It underscores that Jordan can no longer be regarded as a neutral observer of developments west of the river, but rather as a directly affected actor by the reshaping of the conflict’s geopolitical and demographic realities—necessitating new approaches that move beyond crisis management toward serious reflection on the future of the Palestinian cause and the region as a whole.
It is worth noting that the Jordanian Journal of Politics and Society (JPS) is published by the Institute for Politics and Society, an independent think tank operating under a Think & Do Tank approach. The Institute is dedicated to producing rigorous analytical and policy-oriented knowledge, fostering intellectual debate on political and social issues in Jordan and the wider region, and bridging academic research with policymaking and the public sphere.
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