Palestinian Village Leagues

{{see also|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli occupation of the West Bank}}

After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank.{{cite web|date=19 July 2024|title=UN top court says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo|author-last=Berg|author-first=Raffi|access-date=26 December 2024|work=BBC News}} The occupation has been controversial, with Israel accused of violating international law, as well as committing human rights abuses and apartheid against Palestinians.{{cite web|date=1 February 2022|title=Israel's apartheid against Palestinians|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Amnesty International}} The Israeli government has also actively promoted the creation and growth of Israeli settlements in Palestine.{{cite web|date=29 December 2016|title=7 Things To Know About Israeli Settlements|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/29/507377617/seven-things-to-know-about-israeli-settlements|author-last=Myre|author-first=Greg|access-date=26 December 2024|work=NPR}} The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an umbrella group representing the most prominent Palestinian nationalist movements in the second half of the 20th century, most of which were secular left-wing nationalists and possessed armed paramilitaries, has also been accused of a number of human rights violations and of waging a terrorist campaign against Israelis.{{cite web|date=14 May 2018|title=What is the Palestinian Liberation Organization? How about Fatah and the Palestinian Authority?|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080054/plo-palestinian-liberation-organization-israel-conflict|author-last=Beauchamp|author-first=Zack|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Vox}}

In 1976, the Israeli government allowed city councils across the occupied West Bank to hold elections. The result was an overwhelming victory for nationalist candidates, most of whom were younger, more educated, and less pro-Jordan than the previous Palestinian political establishment, and most of whom were supportive of the PLO. The results shocked the Israeli government, who had a policy of not recognising or negotiating with the PLO and who had hoped that the elections would result in victories for less nationalistic candidates.{{cite journal|date=1 June 1986|title=The West Bank Pragmatic Elite: The Uncertain Future|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2536610|author-last=Sahliyeh|author-first=Emile|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=34–45 |doi=10.2307/2536610 |jstor=2536610 |url-access=subscription}} Following the elections, Menahem Milson, a professor of Arabic literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and who had previously served as a paratrooper under Ariel Sharon, was named as the new chief Advisor on Arab Affairs to the Military Governorate.{{cite web|date=27 January 1984|title=MENACHEM MILSON: Most misunderstood man in Israel?|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/261451594|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Australian Jewish News}} As advisor, Menahem and his assistant, Yigal Carmon, argued for a significant change in the way that the Israeli government administered the occupation.{{cite web|date=13 September 2016|title=The Story Of The Palestinian Village Leagues|url=https://www.memri.org/reports/story-palestinian-village-leagues|author-last=Carmon|author-first=Yigal|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Middle East Media Research Institute}} Milson believed that the Governorate needed to take a more active role in internal Palestinian politics, to cultivate pro-Israeli Palestinians as leaders, and to turn the Governorate's focus away from urban areas, which were the strongholds of PLO support, and towards rural areas, which he believed would be less nationalistic and more pro-Jordanian.

In a 1986 article in Commentary, Milson explained his reasoning that "instead of assuming that the Palestinians in the territories could not or should not play a role in the political process, the new policy assumed that they could and should; instead of the requirement that the IMG remain 'neutral,' the IMG would actively attempt to curtail PLO influence and simultaneously encourage those Palestinians who openly recognized Israel," saying that he had "a clear political goal to this policy: to develop conditions conducive to the emergence of Palestinian leaders ready for peace negotiations."{{cite web|date=1 April 1986|title=How Not to Occupy the West Bank|url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/menahem-milson/how-not-to-occupy-the-west-bank/|author-last=Milson|author-first=Menahem|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Commentary}} In 2016, Carmon explained that they wished to promote "moderate elements who understood that terrorism endangered the Palestinians themselves," and that "although we were well aware that these elements were not dominant and that the positions they espoused were not largely shared by the urban elite that for years had constituted the leading sector of Palestinian society, we also knew that most members of the non-urban population - the silent majority - were prepared to accept this approach if assured of an Israeli commitment to it."

The next year, the right-wing Likud party would win the Israeli legislative elections and would form government for the first time under Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Begin's term as Prime Minister would bring about a number of significant changes to Israeli policies towards Palestine, including massively expanding Israeli settlements and enacting increasingly strict measures to try and forcibly suppress Palestinian nationalism.

As a result of the changes in Israeli policy, Mustafa Dodin, a Palestinian-born former minister in the Government of Jordan who had moved back into the West Bank in 1975, came out of retirement to try and take on a leading role in Palestinian politics.{{cite journal|date=1 September 1982|title="Village Leagues": What Kind of Carrot?|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2536088|author-last=Litani|author-first=Yehuda|access-date=6 January 2025|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=174–178 |doi=10.2307/2536088 |jstor=2536088 |url-access=subscription}} Dodin, who was politically pro-Jordan and anti-PLO, proposed the creation the Palestinian Village Leagues as rural-based leadership organisation based on clan structures that could serve as a counterweight to PLO influence in the West Bank and could lead towards peace negotiations with Israel. The Military Governorate approved Dodin's proposal in 1978, with Village Leagues being formed in seven different West Bank regions, and offered him Israeli support.

In 1981, Begin named decorated former military commander Ariel Sharon as Minister of Defence, giving him responsibility for the occupation. As Minister of Defence, Sharon quickly moved to re-organise the MIlitary Governorate into the Israeli Civil Administration, naming Milson as its head.

The Village Leagues officially declared their purpose to be "the resolution of local disputes among villagers in the most efficient and least costly methods" as well as the development of "rural cooperatives and social and charitable societies which will work for the benefit of all villagers." The Leagues took on a number of municipal government functions, including issuing drivers' licences and travel permits, policing functions, as well as undertaking municipal development projects. They also ran their own newspaper, al-Mira'aa. As well, the Leagues held several "Yes to Peace" rallies, co-organised with the Civil Administration.{{cite web|date=17 November 1982|title=Guidelines Issued to 'neutralize' Pro-jordanian Elements on West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/guidelines-issued-to-neutralize-pro-jordanian-elements-on-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web|date=12 November 1982|title=Friday, November 12, 1982|url=https://chronology.palestine-studies.org/chronology/1982-nov-12|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Palestine Chronology}}

In a January 1983 interview with Leeora Bush of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Dodin stated that the priorities of the Village Leagues were: preventing the emigration of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, improving Palestinian-Israeli relations, opposing communism and terrorism, and establishing democracy. In the interview, Dodin claimed that "before 1977, an Arab would be killed for talking to a Jew, but now Arabs and Jews are friends and soon terror will be no threat at all here."{{cite web|date=27 January 1983|title=West Bank Village Leagues Seek Peace|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263310163|author-last=Bush|author-first=Leeora|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Australian Jewish News}} In a June 1983 interview with The Australian Jewish News, Dodin stated that "we are suffering under the occupation," but that the occupation could only be ended "by negotiation. No Arab country will fight Israel. The PLO was stupid to try to build an army."{{cite web|date=4 November 1983|title=THE RISE AND FALL OF MUSTAFA DODIN|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/261331328|author-last=Zel Lurie|author-first=Jesse|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Australian Jewish News}} Dodin further stated that "We are too small for a state of our own. The solution must be a federation with Jordan." In August 1983, Dodin indicated that the Village Leagues supported the Reagan peace plan.{{cite web|date=25 August 1983|title=Village League Leader Says Direct Talks Between Israel, Palestinians is the Only Way to Achieve Mide|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/village-league-leader-says-direct-talks-between-israel-palestinians-is-the-only-way-to-achieve-mide|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

In November 1981, the head of the Village League in Ramallah, Yusuf Khatib, and his son were ambushed by a group of Palestinian militants who opened fire on their car, with his son being immediately killed and Khatib dying of his injuries a few days later.{{cite web|date=24 November 1981|title=Arab Moderate Shot by Terrorists Dies of His Wounds|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/arab-moderate-shot-by-terrorists-dies-of-his-wounds|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} The PLO claimed responsibility for the assassination.{{cite web|date=19 November 1981|title=Moderate Arab West Bank Leaders Condemn Terrorist Ambush Slaying|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/moderate-arab-west-bank-leaders-condemn-terrorist-ambush-slaying|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In March 1982, Mayor of Tarqumiyah Kamal Fatafta, a Village Leagues member, was injured when his car was booby-trapped with an explosive device.{{cite web|date=1 April 1982|title=Booby-trap Device in Jures West Bank Leader Who Cooperates with Israel|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/booby-trap-device-in-jures-west-bank-leader-who-cooperates-with-israel|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

In July 1982, six Palestinian youth were injured in a clash with Village League members, where the youth threw stones and the Village Leagues members responded with gunfire.{{cite web|date=6 July 1982|title=West Bank Quiet After Day of Violent Protests Against War in Lebanon|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/west-bank-quiet-after-day-of-violent-protests-against-war-in-lebanon|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In August 1984, five members of the Village Leagues, including the head of the Bethlehem branch, were convicted by an Israeli military court of arson and attempting to kill prominent nationalists.{{cite web|date=20 August 1984|title=Monday, August 20, 1984|url=https://chronology.palestine-studies.org/chronology/1984-aug-20|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Palestine Chronology}}{{cite web|date=23 August 1984|title=Former Village League Leader Jailed|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/former-village-league-leader-jailed|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

The Israeli government would support the Village Leagues in a number of ways, including pressuring rural Palestinian politicians to join the Leagues, as well as restricting funding and approval for development projects in Palestine not run by the Leagues, refusing to grant travel permits to Palestinians unless those permits were approved by the Leagues, and subsidising the purchases of essential materials by League supporters. Development projects built by the Leagues were frequently built to be dependent on the Israeli electric and water grids. The Israeli government also provided weapons to the Village Leagues, particularly following Yusuf Khatib's assassination in 1981.{{cite web|date=1 December 1981|title=Defense Ministry Agrees to Have West Bank Moderates Arm Themselves|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/defense-ministry-agrees-to-have-west-bank-moderates-arm-themselves|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

While supporting the growth of the Village Leagues, the Israeli government simultaneously moved to degrade the power of the PLO in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including banning the National Guidance Committee and increasing censorship of Palestinian newspapers. In March 1982, the Israeli government forcibly disbanded the elected city council of Al-Bireh, provoking a significant wave of protests in Palestine, in the wake of which the government moved to disband more Palestinian city councils and to dismiss Palestinians mayors seen as pro-PLO.{{cite news|date=27 March 1982|title=Israeli Campaign Marks Turning Point in West Bank Relations|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/28/israeli-campaign-marks-turning-point-in-west-bank-relations/a48b189d-0b91-4b56-998d-6e31439b3f83/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=7 October 2024|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{cite web|date=10 July 1982|title=Palestinian Mayor of Gaza Is Dismissed by the Israelis|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/10/world/palestinian-mayor-of-gaza-is-dismissed-by-the-israelis.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|website=The New York Times |access-date=28 December 2024}} In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, aiming to end the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and install a pro-Israel government.{{cite journal|date=1 September 1982|title=The War for the West Bank|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2538371|author-last=Cantarow|author-first=Ellen|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=11/12 |pages=263–268 |doi=10.2307/2538371 |jstor=2538371 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|date=25 September 2024|title=What happened when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982?|url=https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0925/1471773-israel-lebanon-invasion-1982-operation-peace-for-the-galilee/|author-last=Rebeiz|author-first=Mireille|access-date=29 December 2024|work=RTÉ}} The Israeli government would also step up its restrictions on Palestinian universities, seen as nationalist hotspots, including arrests of student leaders and forced closures, such as with Birzeit University, which was forcibly closed fourteen times between 1979 and 1988.{{cite web|date=14 June 1979|title=Palestinian Campus in West Bank, Known as an 'Arab Berkeley, Is in State of Turmoil|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/14/archives/palestinian-campus-in-west-bank-known-as-an-arab-berkeley-is-in.html|author-last=Hoffman|author-first=Paul|access-date=31 December 2024|work=The New York Times}}{{cite web|date=9 March 2001|title=Birzeit: Revolutionary campus|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1211187.stm|author-last=Asser|author-first=Martin|access-date=29 December 2024|work=BBC News}}

By late June 1982, Milson was claiming that the PLO and its supporters were "confused, disorganized and have no place to go."{{cite web|date=23 June 1982|title=Milson Says PLO Demoralized|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/milson-says-plo-demoralized|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

In September 1982, Menahem Milson resigned as head of the Civil Administration, citing the Sabra and Shatila massacre, committed by Israeli-backed paramilitaries in Lebanon. Sharon would resign as Minister of Defence in autumn 1982, after the Kahan Commission found that he bore "personal responsibility" for the massacre. Milson was replaced by Brigadier General Shlomo Ilya, an intelligence officer who had lost a hand in combat during the 1967 Six-Day War, while Sharon was replaced by fellow Likud politician Moshe Arens. Ilya and Arens initially defended the viability of the Village Leagues, with Ilya stating that they were "very young and are making all the mistakes a young political organization makes" and that "slowly and gradually we are extending the number of people who identify with the Village Leagues and the number of villages that cooperate."{{cite news|date=20 May 1983|title=Israel Still Pursues Leadership Role for West Bank 'Leagues'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/05/20/israel-still-pursues-leadership-role-for-west-bank-leagues/ee015ecb-48f8-4551-8c71-1f53c3641fe0/|author-last=Walsh|author-first=Edward|access-date=7 January 2025|newspaper=Washington Post}} However, the Civil Administration under their leadership began to distance itself from the Village Leagues.{{cite web|date=24 August 1983|title=Arens Meets with West Bank Notables|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/arens-meets-with-west-bank-notables|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

Conflicts between the Civil Administration and the Village Leagues also began to bubble following Milson and Sharon's resignations.{{cite web|date=1 June 1983|title=The Lebanon War and the Occupied Territories|url=https://merip.org/1983/06/the-lebanon-war-and-the-occupied-territories/|author-last=Nahkleh|author-first=Khalil|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Middle East Research and Information Project}} In late 1982, the Village Leagues began agitating for the Civil Administration to grant international politics and peace negotiations.{{cite web|date=15 November 1982|title=Village Leagues Challenge Israel to Negotiate with Them on Future of West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/village-leagues-challenge-israel-to-negotiate-with-them-on-future-of-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In March 1983, the Village Leagues publicly accused the Civil Administration of interfering in its affairs, after the Civil Administration demanded the resignation of a high-ranking member of the Leagues.{{cite web|date=3 March 1983|title=Hebron Area Village League Group Says Israel's Civil Administration is Interfering in Its Affairs|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/hebron-area-village-league-group-says-israels-civil-administration-is-interfering-in-its-affairs|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In September 1983, Dodin resigned as head of the Federation of Village Leagues, following arguments between Dodin and the Civil Administration where Dodin requested greater autonomy in how the Leagues spent Israeli funding they received, as well as arguments within the Leagues over a longstanding personal grudge between Dodin and Jordanian Prime Minister Mudar Badran.{{cite web|date=7 September 1983|title=Status of Village Leagues in Doubt Following Doudin's Resignation|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/status-of-village-leagues-in-doubt-following-doudins-resignation|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

On 10 March 1984, the Federation of Village Leagues were formally dissolved.{{cite web|date=10 March 1984|title=Saturday, March 10, 1984|url=https://chronology.palestine-studies.org/chronology/1984-mar-10|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Palestine Chronology}}

The Village Leagues were widely disliked by the Palestinian population, with both moderate and hardline nationalists accusing them of being collaborators.{{cite web|date=30 August 1982|title=West Bank, Gaza Village Leagues Termed As Israeli 'collaborators'|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/west-bank-gaza-village-leagues-termed-as-israeli-collaborators|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Mayor of Hebron Mustafa Natche called the Leagues a "big propaganda ploy."{{cite news|date=18 August 1982|title=West Bank Village Leagues Hope to Gain Power From PLO Defeat|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/08/18/west-bank-village-leagues-hope-to-gain-power-from-plo-defeat/ce3b6dba-d78f-455d-8268-d364dc4bf1b7/|author-last=Walsh|author-first=Edward|access-date=6 January 2025|newspaper=Washington Post}} Dodin rejected the accusation, pledging that "if Minister Sharon asks me for sovereignty even on one meter of the West Bank, I will refuse him with all my might," and saying that he was loyal to Jordan and only negotiated with Israel as a short-term measure to gain development aid.{{cite web|date=5 April 1982|title=Village Leagues Leader Denies Collaboration with Israel|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/village-leagues-leader-denies-collaboration-with-israel|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

The Government of Jordan, who still officially claimed sovereignty over the West Bank until 1988, opposed the Village Leagues, declaring in March 1982 that it would prosecute any Palestinians who joined the Leagues for treason.{{cite web|date=14 March 1982|title=A THREAT BY JORDAN RAISES TENSIONS IN WEST BANK|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/14/world/a-threat-by-jordan-raises-tensions-in-west-bank.html|author-last=Kifner|author-first=John|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The New York Times}}{{cite web|date=2 April 1982|title=King in the middle of another Mid-East crisis|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820402.2.75.1|author-last=MacManus|author-first=James|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Guardian}}

Mort Dolinsky of the Israeli government's press office stated that "I disagree with 80 per cent of what Dodin says, but I know that he's not going to throw bombs at us. If we don't support him, the PLO will be back in full force in two years." There were, however, some debates within the Israeli government over its approach to the Village Leagues, with 25 senior staffers of the Civil Administration signing a letter in May 1982 accusing Milson of undermining the previous work of the Israeli government in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.{{cite web|date=11 May 1982|title=Friction Between Milson, Top Aides|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/friction-between-milson-top-aides|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

A 1983 report by the United States Department of State described the Village Leagues as a "rural-based quasi-political organisation," to whom the Israeli government wished to "transfer patronage and authority from elected and established Palestinian nationalist leaders whom Israel objects to as being supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization."{{cite web|date=10 February 1983|title=Annual Report on Human Rights: U.S. Charges Israel's Human Rights Problems 'exacerbated' by Its Sett|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/annual-report-on-human-rights-u-s-charges-israels-human-rights-problems-exacerbated-by-its-sett|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} The report further stated that "Israel is likely to continue its efforts to contain and reshape the politics of the West Bank and Gaza through the acquisition of land for settlement, official subsidization of population growth in existing settlements and political support for the Village Leagues."

John Drysdale of The Straits Times argued in 1982 that the Israeli government was operating on several assumptions: that the Palestinian mayors were being threatened by the PLO into a radical nationalist stance, that the Village Leagues more accurately represented the majority views of Palestinians, that radicalised nationalist Palestinians feared a loss of influence if partial autonomy was granted to the Palestinian Territories under the Camp David Accords negotiated with Egypt, and that a peaceful semi-autonomous Palestinian territory would have to include both Palestinians and Israeli settlers.{{cite web|date=27 March 1982|title=Israelis in a colonial bind|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19820327-1.2.69|author-last=Drysdale|author-first=John|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Straits Times}} Charles D. Smith of San Diego State University argued that opinion polling reflected widespread support for the PLO among Palestinians, saying that "if a West Bank leadership independent of the P.L.O. does emerge, it will still reflect nationalistic hopes for a state without Israeli settlers."{{cite web|date=19 July 1983|title=INAUSPICIOUS WEST BANK VILLAGE LEAGUES|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/19/opinion/l-inauspicious-west-bank-village-leagues-042878.html|author-last=Smith|author-first=Charles D.|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The New York Times}}

Yehuda Litani of Haaretz argued in 1981 that the Israeli government was overlooking the changes in education and social norms in rural Palestinian areas since the early 20th century, as well as the fact that the ratio of rural to urban Palestinians held as prisoners in Israeli prisons was roughly similar to the overall population balance. Litani also argued that the Jewish Agency for Israel had tried to encourage the growth of similarly structured peasants' leagues during the late 1930s, following the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, an initiative that also failed. In 1983, Salim Tamari of Birzeit University argued that "it became increasingly difficult for Israel to rule its subject Palestinian population through the direct apparatus of the Military Government after the Likud claimed Jewish sovereignty of the area in 1980-81," saying that "the absence of a surrogate power base for Israeli rule became an obstacle, not only for the implementation of the Accords but also for the mediation of Israel's control over a progressively more unyielding civilian population."{{cite journal|date=1 June 1983|title=In League with Zion: Israel's Search for a Native Pillar|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2536244|author-last=Tamari|author-first=Salim|access-date=6 January 2025|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=41–56 |doi=10.2307/2536244 |jstor=2536244 |url-access=subscription}} Tamari also compared the Village Leagues to the Jewish Agency's attempts to fund alternatives to the Arab Higher Committee, saying that Israel has had a long-running "notion of mobilising the conservative peasantry against its own urban-based nationalist movement."

According to Trudy Rubin of The Christian Science Monitor in 1982, aside from Dodin, "most of the league leaders are unknown and minor figures."{{cite web|date=17 August 1982|title=Israel pursues politics to shut out PLO from West Bank|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0817/081754.html|author-last=Rubin|author-first=Trudy|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The Christian Science Monitor}}

In 1988, Don Peretz of Binghamton University described the Israeli government's strategy in regards to the Village Leagues as based on the "exploitation of traditional city-country tensions," but that "the Village Leagues were extremely unpopular, and the Milson/Sharon strategy never paid off."{{cite web|date=1 June 1988|title=Intifadeh: The Palestinian Uprising|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/intifadeh-palestinian-uprising|author-last=Peretz|author-first=Don|access-date=6 March 2025|work=Foreign Affairs}} In 2011, American historian Wendy Pearlman described the Village Leagues as "an attempt to formalise [Israel's] network of Palestinian collaborators as an alternative leadership in the rural West Bank. That scheme was met with public disdain and collapsed."Pearlman, W. (2011). Violence, nonviolence, and the Palestinian national movement (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. Pages 98-100.

In 1986, University of North Texas historian Emile Sahliyeh wrote that "although Israel's policy of creating a rural-based alternative Palestinian leadership had failed, it nevertheless undermined the political power of the West Bank nationalist elite." In 1995, Rex Brynen of McGill University argued that the partially successful undermining of the PLO's influence led to a significant increased in more decentralised nationalist leaderships, such as "student, trade union, and women's organizations," which were ultimately more resilient against Israeli suppression and which would "provide much of the organisational underpining for the Intifada."{{cite journal|date=1 April 1995|title=The Dynamics of Palestinian Elite Formation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2537878|author-last=Brynen|author-first=Rex|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=31–43 |doi=10.2307/2537878 |jstor=2537878 |url-access=subscription}}

In 2024, Dalal Iriqat of the Arab American University compared the Village Leagues to the Nashashibi family's collaboration with the British Empire during British rule in Palestine, arguing that Israeli policies towards Palestine have followed in "the legacy of the British mandate, with Palestinian self-determination always curtailed by the exercise of military orders and executive power."{{cite journal|date=2024|title=Legacy of the British Mandate: Eliminating The Palestinian Right to Self-Determination|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mepo.12759|author-last=Iriqat|author-first=Dalal|access-date=6 January 2025|journal=Middle East Policy|volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=111–123 |doi=10.1111/mepo.12759 |url-access=subscription}} American-Palestinian writer Ramzy Baroud wrote in 2013 that "history is laden with failed Israeli experiments aimed at destroying the Palestinian national project from within," and accused the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas of being "a revamped version of the Village Leagues and their clan-like political apparatus."{{cite web|date=4 September 2013|title=Oslo Dead but Still Matters: Abbas's Village Leagues and Palestinian Silence|url=https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/09/04/oslo-dead-but-still-matters-abbass-village-leagues-and-palestinian-silence/|author-last=Baroud|author-first=Ramzy|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Foreign Policy Journal}} Yoav Karny of Israeli newspaper Globes wrote in 2023 that the Village Leagues were part of an Israeli "concept that Islamism is preferable to Arab nationalism," saying that it "guided Israeli policy for decades, and brought upon us the disaster of October 7."{{cite web|date=24 December 2023|title=The obsession that led to war with Hamas|url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-the-obsession-that-led-to-war-with-hamas-1001465970|author-last=Karny|author-first=Yoav|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Globes}}

In 1986, Milson accused the Civil Administration of having "discarded" his approach, accusing both the Israeli Labor Party and Likud of preferring "to focus on anti-terrorism rather than to engage in a larger struggle against the PLO's political influence." In 2016, Yigal Carmon, who had served as an advisor to the Israeli Civil Administration under Menahem, denied that the purpose of creating the Village Leagues was to divide and rule, and claimed that "neither the PLO nor the Arab states nor any of the other hostile elements had been able to overcome them - the Israeli government alone was responsible for their demise, without ever once having discussed the concept, its significance or its prospects."

Milson and Carmon would continue to cooperate, later leading and co-founding the Middle East Media Research Institute, and would continue to comment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.{{cite web|date=1 January 2025|title=Professor Menahem Milson|url=https://jsai.huji.ac.il/people/menahem-milson|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation}}{{cite web|date=18 October 2023|title=About The Future|url=https://www.memri.org/reports/about-future|author-last=Carmon|author-first=Yigal|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Middle East Media Research Institute}} Ilya's term as head of the Israeli Civil Administration would prove short, resigning in early 1984 due to a corruption scandal.{{cite web|date=19 January 1984|title=Israeli Official Quits in Scandal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/19/world/israeli-official-quits-in-scandal.html|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The New York Times}} Sharon would continue to be a prominent figure in Israeli politics, holding other ministerial positions from 1984 to 1992 and again from 1996 to 1999, eventually serving as Prime Minister between 2001 and 2006.{{cite web|date=30 January 2002|title=Sharon Has Arafat on Defensive, but Israelis Question His Strategy|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/sharon-has-arafat-on-defensive-but-israelis-question-his-strategy|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 January 2025|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web|date=11 January 2014|title=Israel's ex-PM Ariel Sharon dies, aged 85|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25696601|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=6 January 2025|work=BBC News}} In 2020, Dodin's granddaughter, Reema Dodin, would be named deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs under the Biden administration.{{cite web|date=25 November 2020|title=Reema Dodin to be first Palestinian-American White House staffer|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/reema-dodin-to-be-first-palestinian-american-white-house-staffer-650088|author-last=Joffre|author-first=Tzvi|access-date=6 January 2025}}

The Israelis hoped that the Village Leagues would diminish nationalist sentiment and influence in Palestine, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. Tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would continue to rise throughout the 1980s, culminating in the eruption of the First Intifada, a mass wave of strikes and civil disobedience, in 1987. While the Israelis initially responded to the First Intifada with harsh measures, they began direct negotiations with the PLO in the early 1990s, resulting in the Oslo Accords.{{cite web|date=1 May 2010|title=Palestinians wage nonviolent campaign during First Intifada, 1987-1988|url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/palestinians-wage-nonviolent-campaign-during-first-intifada-1987-1988|author-last=Tedla|author-first=Aden|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Global Nonviolent Action Database}}{{cite web|date=14 May 2018|title=What were the intifadas?|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080066/israel-palestine-intifadas-first-second|author-last=Beauchamp|author-first=Zack|access-date=31 December 2024|work=Vox}} The 1990s would also mark the rise to prominence of Hamas, a conservative Islamist and nationalist movement, in Palestine and increasing violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood's network in Palestine, which had also received Israeli support as an alternative to the PLO during the 1970s and early 1980s.{{cite news |last1=Sayedahmed |first1=Dina |title=Blowback: How Israel Went From Helping Create Hamas to Bombing It |url=https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/hamas-israel-palestine-conflict/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Intercept |date=19 February 2018 |archive-date=1 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201211111/https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/hamas-israel-palestine-conflict/ |url-status=live }}

During the Gaza war, that began in 2023, some Israeli commentators have proposed creating a clan-based power structure in the Gaza Strip following the war, to replace the Hamas-controlled institutions without involving the Palestinian Authority or other nationalist groups, prompting comparisons to the Village Leagues.{{cite web|date=6 March 2024|title=Gaza: What are the Village Leagues Israel plans to replace Hamas?|url=https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-are-village-leagues-planned-replace-hamas-rule|author-last=Salahi|author-first=Amr|access-date=6 January 2025|work=The New Arab}}{{cite web|date=5 March 2024|title=Are There Alternatives to Hamas Rule in Gaza?|url=https://jcpa.org/are-there-alternatives-to-hamas-rule-in-gaza/|author-last=Ben Menachem|author-first=Yoni|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs}}{{cite web|date=2 June 2024|title=Israel seeks a 'governing alternative' to Hamas in Gaza. It's been tried and failed before|url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-war-news-06-02-2024-d32b0e8c46c6cd333e14841a585bbac0|author-last=Lidman|author-first=Melanie|access-date=6 January 2025|work=AP News}} Yaniv Voller of the University of Kent argued that "the failure of the Village Leagues may have had much to do with Israeli reluctance to continue the policy as with the unpopularity of the system," claiming that post-war institutions "will only be able to cope with clans’ potential criminal activity through securing their participation in the institutions designed by civilian authorities."{{cite web|date=24 May 2024|title=The Inevitable Role of Clans in Post-Conflict Stabilization in Gaza|url=https://warontherocks.com/2024/05/the-inevitable-role-of-clans-in-post-conflict-stabilization-in-gaza/|author-last=Voller|author-first=Yaniv|work=War on the Rocks}} Justin Ling of Foreign Policy, however, has argued that "such a plan is likely to fail for the same reason the original incarnation did: because local government cannot be imposed on a population by an occupying power."{{cite web|date=21 February 2024|title=Gaza's Postwar Elections Are Key to Palestinian Democracy|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/21/gaza-elections-israel-war-fatah-hamas-abbas/|author-last=Ling|author-first=Justin|access-date=6 January 2025|work=Foreign Policy}}

{{reflist}}

Category:Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Category:Ariel Sharon

Category:Israeli Civil Administration