Palestinian election candidate warns West Bank could ‘explode’ unless Israel releases tax funds

Discussing with Israeli media for the first time since the list was announced by the Palestinian Central Elections Commission on Sunday, Shadid said that his candidates were focused on addressing Palestinian unemployment and confronting inefficiency in the Palestinian Authority’s institutions, which he described as “a cancer eating away at the body of our people, including workers and graduates.”

Asked how to confront the issue of unemployment, Shadid focused on two main strategies. Firstly, he said, the PA can establish agricultural and industrial projects that could employ tens of thousands of workers, even with its “limited resources.”

The second, and slightly more complicated strategy, would be to address issues caused by “the occupation” (Israel).

“The primary cause of the unemployment crisis is the occupation. It prevents more than a quarter of a million workers from accessing their workplaces inside Israel, withholds Palestinian tax revenues, and besieges villages, towns, and cities, negatively impacting industry, trade, and agriculture,” he insisted. “The occupation must cease its repressive measures so that the Palestinian Authority institutions can fulfill their duties towards our people.”

Israel revoked the work permits of around 140,000 Palestinian workers following Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel. The wars that followed also saw the West Bank take a major hit in the tourism and hospitality industries; 96% of businesses reported decreased activity and 42.1% reduced their workforces, according to a 2024 report by UN Trade and Development. The decline amounted to the loss of an additional 306,000 jobs and pushed unemployment to 32%.

Palestinians working in the public sector have also received around half of their pay, and numerous public facilities like schools have been forced to reduce their working hours as Israel withholds Palestinian tax revenue funds.

Sidestepping questions on the pay-for-slay payments, Shadid insisted the “funds are the exclusive right of the Palestinian people, and their withholding violates all established laws and norms of international relations,” and Israel was “obligated” to release them.

Describing Israel’s security concerns as “flimsy,” Shadid argued that Jerusalem had “fabricated pretexts to punish and oppress our people as part of a systematic plan to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”

“Israeli cities witness dozens of crimes committed under criminal pretexts, and hundreds of Israelis have been killed as a result. Now let's turn to the security situation in the West Bank, where more than 700,000 Jewish settlers live. How many attacks occur per month against these settlers, who are scattered among approximately three million Palestinians?” he said. “Almost zero.”

Despite Shadid’s claim, there have been thousands of attacks against Israelis in the West Bank over the past three years. From 2023 to 2024 alone, according to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, there were 10,264 attacks, including instances of stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails, causing 57 fatalities and 413 injuries.

Explaining what he thought the next phase should be in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Shadid said that his list favored negotiations as the “most effective and best approach,” and added that pressure from the international community would force Israel to “comply with international law and legitimacy, based on the two-state solution.”

Asked why he submitted The Phoenix list for consideration, and what separated the collective from others running in the November PLC election, Shadid said he made the decision believing that many of his competitors were running on platforms “unrealistic” in nature and others were “mere reflections of the ruling power and its deep state.”

“We formed the Phoenix Alliance, and we have a realistic vision that aligns with the people's aspirations and the available resources to achieve them. We did not take a leap of faith, nor did we drag our people into disastrous adventures,” he shared.  “We are close to the people; we live among them, we hear their concerns, their pain, and their cries. We did not put forward slogans divorced from reality, and thus we will be best positioned to translate them into reality, thereby fulfilling the people's demands.”

Shadid explained that he arrived at the list’s name because he was taken with the mythical bird, able to be reborn from ashes, which would carry the hope that Palestinians can “rise and return after destruction.”

As for what would make him personally suitable for a position on the council, Shadid pointed to his conviction to “contribute to improving the lives of our people,” his ability to help draft appropriate legislation, and his political experience, including doctorates in international relations and politics. He said these qualifications would enable him to help bring about change and push forward better political, security, social, economic, judicial and legislative regulations.

“It is the right of the Palestinian people to live in security and peace like the rest of the peoples of the earth. As a list that speaks and expresses the concerns of our people, we look forward to international support to lift the injustice from our people, especially from the countries that have always supported the occupation, especially Britain and the United States of America, and certainly the peoples of Europe who have proven that they are living peoples and have supported our people and come out in the millions in demonstrations rejecting the war of extermination that Israel launched on the Gaza Strip and the unjust siege imposed on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.