Wesam Afifa
The year 2023 comes loaded with elements of bombing and increasing options for confrontation between the Palestinians and the Israeli occupation. However, the United States and normalization powers in the region will strive to avoid the explosion, including the mitigation of the harshness of the extremist steps and adventures of the new Israeli government, and the attempts to improve the living conditions of Palestinians, even if partially.

The year 2022 recorded a tangible and essential transformation in the path of the struggle with the occupation, coinciding with the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu to the sixth term in his life as the leader of a new Israeli government that appears more right-wing and extremist overall.

It is expected that the new year will be hot in light of this expansionist racist government, as evidenced by its program and schedule of work, along with coalition agreements and statements by many of its ministers.

Based on this, it can be summarized that the Palestinian scene's predictions for 2023 are based on primary data, where all indicators refer that the confrontation between Palestinians and the occupation is heading toward expansion. There is no political path on the horizon, such as returning to negotiations or reaching a settlement.

The toughest confrontation is focused in the West Bank, with Al-Quds at the forefront, after years of tension and friction between the Israeli occupation and the Gaza Strip. The current conflict is centered on the Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, in light of the occupation's insistence on imposing a new reality through the enhancement of religious conflict, which is the main factor of bombing, and all of this imposes on the Palestinians an effort to save the West Bank from the grip of settlement and the Greater Annexation project. This requires providing the necessary elements of resistance for the population, activating popular resistance in disadvantaged areas, and exposure to aggression, settlement, Judaization, and annexation.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails remains the most serious, and constitutes a challenge for Palestinian factions. The commitments of the extremist security minister Itmar Ben Gvir to tighten the grip on prisoners and the presentation of a law for the execution of Palestinian prisoners will force the Palestinian resistance to exert more pressure on the occupation, including the implementation of new abductions by occupation forces in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, which means a wide-scale military confrontation.

In contrast, the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas will face the risk of chaos or collapse. The struggle against the Hamas threat will remain the most dangerous one, without any political alternatives or horizons, after the fall of "the two-state solution completely." The situation is further complicated by the continuation of the frozen path of accommodation, and the fate of the Algerian declaration will remain hostage to Mahmoud Abbas' preconditions. The leadership of the organization and PA will remain populated with a continued hegemony over official institutions and Palestinian "legitimacy"; Nonetheless, Algeria will maintain its initiative as one of the essential papers in its foreign policy and regional presence in the face of the interest of many Arab countries that are active in the Palestinian file such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and also major Western powers, led by the United States, to maintain the role of the Palestinian Authority to avoid a scenario of collapse and security chaos.

Despite the agreement of the Biden Administration with the core of the Zionist project represented by Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist allies, the settlement expansion and unilateral steps will represent an embarrassment for the American administration. Therefore, the Israeli occupation government will face difficulties in passing all its plans, giving the Palestinians an opportunity to take advantage of the contradiction between the Israeli government and international and regional interests.

In light of the previous data, 2023 imposes on Palestinians, whether factions of Palestinian resistance, headed by Hamas, or the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah movement, big challenges that force them to make difficult decisions, which requires strengthening their popular base and regional relationships in light of the shifting sands that the region is going through and it could have effects on the future of the Palestinian cause.