Richard Pollock, a retired national reporter, lives in Washington, D.C. He published a column on Substack titled “The World in Crisis.” My posts are available at: substack.com/@richard51.
(Oct. 21, 2026 / JNS)
Western leaders earlier this week expressed shock when Mahmoud Abbas, the almost 91-year-old dictatorial head of the Palestinian Authority, decided to cancel the first legislative elections in 20 years. Abbas bluntly informed his citizens on Oct. 10 that he was unilaterally canceling the elections scheduled for Nov. 28.
He now says Palestinians will have to wait another year, until September 2027, to elect a new legislature. He claims that his own presidential election, last held in 2005 for a single four-year term, will occur on the same date.
Few should be surprised about Abbas’s cancellation of elections. The P.A. and its terror patron—the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Fatah party—are corrupt entities that have financially enriched themselves and governed the territory with an iron fist for the last 21 years.
It’s breathtaking to see the West’s naiveté and its determination to put on blinders about the totalitarian nature of the P.A. After all, Abbas’s cancellation of elections isn’t new. This is what dictators do. He has always dodged the will of the Palestinian people since his first “election” to a sole four-year term in 2005.
It’s the West’s blindness that needs to be condemned.
Last year, when Abbas pretended that he would hold national elections in 2026, he wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron, promising that they would be held this year as a quid pro quo for France’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
After the cancellation, France’s Foreign Ministry feigned outrage in a statement: “There is an urgent need for voice to be restored to the Palestinian people and for them to be able to choose their representatives in free and transparent elections, as President Abbas had committed to do. … Also at stake is the ability of the Palestinian leaders to further with renewed legitimacy the Palestinian people’s aspirations to dignity, freedom and self-determination.”
The European Union said it “regrets” the development—or lack thereof.
Mahmoud Abbas wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron, promising that elections would be held this year as a quid pro quo for recognition of a Palestinian state.
It’s important to note that since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the European Union alone has poured an estimated $30 billion into a territory called “Palestine.” The United States itself has bestowed $11 billion on Palestinian terrorists, including the $6 billion given to the widely discredited U.N. Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA.
Where did this money go? To Abbas and his cronies. In 2018, news organizations then estimated Abbas’s net worth—not including the lucrative government contracts he has awarded his sons—at $110 million.
Abbas’ sons, Yasser and Tarek Abbas, head major firms in construction, telecom, energy and finance, all funded through contracts their father controls. Their combined worth is estimated in the hundreds of millions.
Indeed, Abbas’s action again reveals the dirty little secret of the P.A.: The Palestinian people live in a police state where corruption is rampant. It is not worthy of being called a real, functioning government. It’s what academics and diplomats call a failed state.
Human-rights violations regularly occur throughout the West Bank. Human Rights Watch in its 2026 world report concluded that “in 2025, the Palestinian Authority escalated its repression of dissent, arbitrarily arresting and torturing critics and opponents with impunity.”
Martin Kear, from the University of Australia, noted last year that the regime finally faces a “legitimacy crisis.” The reality, he says, is that “Fatah and Abbas are deeply unpopular among Palestinians, who accuse them of systemic corruption, nepotism, clientelism and bureaucratic malfeasance.”
An August poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research validates Kear’s assessment, noting that “79% want Abbas to resign, confirming the persistence of exceptionally high dissatisfaction with his leadership.”
The polling numbers show deep public hostility towards the regime. A striking 83% believe corruption exists within P.A. institutions, and 65% now describe the P.A. as a burden rather than an achievement,” the center reported.
Most of the West ignores this reality.
The Palestinians living on the West Bank also suffer from extreme income inequality. The World Bank in May of this year stated that “as of Q4-2025, the unemployment rate stood at 27.5 percent.” Further, one out of three Palestinians lives at or below the poverty line.
This is the image the Palestinian leadership wishes to project: an impoverished nation. At the same time, Palestinian billionaires in the West Bank live in opulent mansions in protected enclaves.
One of the many uber-wealthy Palestinians is billionaire Munib Rashid al-Masri, age 90. He’s known as the “Duke of Nablus” and “The Godfather.” He was one of Yasser Arafat’s closest friends and supporters. Arafat himself was a billionaire when he died.
Al-Masri built a 70-acre estate with a palace that overlooks the city of Nablus, which he named Beit Falasteen or “House of Palestine.” His personal fortune is estimated to be up to $5 billion.
The Palestinian elite certainly love to live in luxury. The Jerusalem Post in September featured “a photography book published by Regavim showcases 100 privately owned Palestinian villas and estates across the West Bank, seeking to challenge what the organization describes as a selective international portrayal of Palestinian life. Titled Real Estate Under Occupation, the book features swimming pools, fountains, marble staircases and landscaped grounds.”
The over-the-top opulence of the Palestinian super-rich can be seen everywhere in pockets of the West Bank.
When Palestinian businessman Tareq al-Natsheh put on a wedding for his son, it was called “The Wedding of the Century.” A reported 60,000 guests showed up on nine acres near Ramallah. According to the Khaberni news website, more than 450 sheep were slaughtered. The wedding cost an estimated $1.85 million.
The garish lifestyles of the West Bank’s uber-wealthy, its unspeakable poverty and its authoritarian nature characterize a deeply failed state. When will Western governments, international aid organizations and the media begin to face up to this reality?
It’s likely they never will.