Israeli Minister Predicts Collapse of Palestinian Authority

Image by Getty Images
An Israeli government minister predicted the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.
“The question is not if the PA collapses but when it is going to collapse,” said Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin on Monday during a speech at Bar-Ilan University. “It can happen in a month or two or a year or two tops.”
Elkin called the current wave of terror a “promo” for what will happen after the PA collapses.
“Israeli citizens will pay the price for anarchy in the PA, especially the settlements, and we must prepare for more difficult attacks,” he said.
Elkin reportedly said he took his warnings public after he tried to discuss the issue at Cabinet meetings with no success.
Elkin also said that the PA has no system to choose a successor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and that “the most probable scenario is a violent succession struggle in the PA.”
He added that: “If the PA collapses the world will blame Israel,” and that the international community of nations will withdraw financial support to the Palestinians.
“If we don’t prepare for the collapse of the PA the reality will force itself on us and the cost will be dear,” he warned.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO