Statistics alone put the PA’s rhetoric to shame

Two very different images of the current plight of the Palestinian people were presented at the end of 2025 – one based on statistics and the other on hypocritical hyperbole. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) noted that from 7 October 2023 to the end of 2025, there has been evidence of “a profound structural breakdown across Palestinian society, with long term implications for population stability, development and human rights.” In a speech commemorating Fatah, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, on the other hand, said that “Palestinians will not submit to the goals of this war, will not leave their homeland, and will confront plans of annexation and displacement through steadfastness and rootedness in their land.”

Palestinians will not willingly succumb to colonialism – that much has been proved for decades. However, idealist rhetoric from an illegitimate leadership that sold Palestinians to detention, torture and death at the hands of Israeli colonialism must be countered with the realities that Palestinians are facing. The difficulties are particularly marked in Gaza, where almost two million Palestinians were forcibly internally displaced since the start of the genocide. The PCBS is still relying on statistics that present a cautious count of how many Palestinians were killed in Israel’s genocide. It states that Israel killed 70,942 people, while another 11,000 are still missing. Since October 2025, Gaza has “experienced a sharp and unprecedented population decline of approximately 254,000 people.” The effects of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, therefore, will impact the Palestinian population for years to come, compounded by the humanitarian catastrophe and Israel’s stated intent to continue decimating Gaza under the guise of disarming Hamas.

What is the PA doing to safeguard the Palestinian people from genocide? The reform announced by the PA is not for the benefit of Palestinians, but for the PA to extend its relevance to colonial expansion for a few more years. While Abbas adheres to international impositions, Palestinians are suffering the repercussions of international impositions: from the UN 1947 Partition Plan to genocide. The humanitarian impact of colonialism is so dire that most Palestinians have to prioritise their survival above resistance. And yet, without a unified resistance, even survival is threatened to the point of death.

How are Palestinians expected to survive “through steadfastness and rootedness in their land” when 94 per cent of Gaza’s healthcare system is destroyed? The PCBS report also states that 96 per cent of Gaza’s households “suffer from water insecurity”. What is taken for granted by the rest of the world is close to completely unavailable in Gaza.

What would it take the PA to acknowledge the divide between its inflated rhetoric and Gaza’s reality? Palestinians are resilient, but they are still facing an internationally-supported genocide on their own, with not even a leadership they can rely on, not only because of illegitimacy but also because the PA has, time and again, failed to prioritise Palestine, the Palestinian anti-colonial resistance and the Palestinian people themselves. With such obvious losses, statistically documented and evidenced by the people themselves, the PA should not be ridiculing Palestinian resilience for an annual speech commemorating Fatah.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260101-statistics-alone-put-the-pas-rhetoric-to-shame/