Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Do Israel and PLO work together to fight Hamas?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows Israel and the PLO/PALestinian Authority (PA)/Fatah are not formal partners with Hamas; instead, relations are adversarial and sometimes competitive, though there are periods when Palestinian factions negotiate or pragmatically coordinate positions (e.g., reconciliation talks or ceasefire negotiations) [1] [2]. Historical accounts also document episodes when Israeli policy tacitly encouraged Islamist groups to weaken the PLO — a long-discussed background that fuels questions about indirect, earlier interactions, but it is not the same as present operational cooperation against Hamas [3] [4].
1. Historical background: Israel, the PLO and the rise of Hamas
The PLO emerged as the dominant secular representative of Palestinians and entered negotiated relations with Israel in the 1990s; Hamas formed later, rejecting the Oslo-era compromises and operating separately from the PLO political structure [5] [6]. Scholars and historical accounts note that during the 1970s–80s some Israeli officials tolerated or even supported Islamist actors as a counterweight to the PLO — a controversial tactic discussed openly in retrospective reporting [3].
2. Formal relationships today: adversaries, not allies
Contemporary sources depict the PLO (and the PA dominated by Fatah) as opposed to Hamas: Hamas is not represented in the PLO and has historically refused to recognize Israel or the Oslo process, while the PLO accepted negotiations with Israel—positions that place the groups at odds rather than in partnership [4] [2] [6]. The Wilson Center and other analysts describe the PLO as “firmly against any association with Hamas” in recent years [1].
3. Practical overlap: negotiations, ceasefires, and tactical coordination among Palestinians
That said, political realities produce episodic rapprochement: reconciliation talks, China‑brokered declarations, or negotiations in Doha and Cairo have aimed to reduce factional division and sometimes produced joint statements or frameworks intended to manage or marginalize Hamas’s role — not to make the PLO a partner of Israel against Hamas, but to position Palestinian politics differently [7] [1]. Analysts also point to ceasefire/hostage negotiation processes where external mediators (Qatar, Turkey, Egypt) and multiple Palestinian actors engaged simultaneously — this is political bargaining, not military alliance with Israel [8] [9].
4. Israel’s current posture toward Hamas: defeat and pressure, not partnership with the PLO
Recent reporting of Israeli operations and policy emphasizes goals of degrading or removing Hamas from Gaza and securing hostages; Israel frames efforts as unilateral security operations and negotiated ceasefires/hostage deals with external mediators rather than a joint Israel–PLO campaign against Hamas [10] [8]. Commentary that draws parallels between pressures on Hamas and the 1982 PLO exit from Lebanon highlights strategic comparisons, not evidence of direct operational cooperation between Israel and the PLO to fight Hamas [9].
5. Local actors, militias, and claims of “backed” anti‑Hamas forces
Several sources report that local clans or rival militias in Gaza and the West Bank have clashed with Hamas, and there are claims (and denials) about some groups being “backed” by Israel or affiliated networks; but these accounts are contested and do not amount to clear, broadly acknowledged PLO–Israel coordination to fight Hamas [11] [12]. NPR notes rival clans and militias confronting Hamas — and that some are described as “backed” by Israel in reporting — but the lines between local rivalry, political rivalry with Fatah, and direct state partnership are ambiguous in available coverage [11] [13].
6. Why the question persists: history, strategy and competing narratives
The question whether Israel and the PLO “work together” against Hamas persists because of three overlapping facts in the record: [14] earlier Israeli policies that tolerated or encouraged Islamist groups to weaken the PLO (a historical fact discussed in reporting) [3]; [15] ongoing PLO/Fatah opposition to Hamas and episodic Palestinian efforts to sideline Hamas politically [2] [1]; and [16] contemporary battlefield and political complexity with local militias, reconciliation talks, and mediator-led ceasefires that produce impressions of shifting alignments [7] [8].
7. Bottom line and reporting limits
Available sources do not describe a formal, sustained Israel–PLO alliance explicitly created to fight Hamas; instead they show long-standing political rivalry between Hamas and the PLO, sporadic Palestinian intra-factional coordination or reconciliation efforts, and separate Israeli military and diplomatic campaigns aimed at weakening Hamas — all layered over a contested history in which some past Israeli policies indirectly aided Islamist groups as a counterweight to the PLO [4] [1] [3]. If you want, I can pull specific timelines of ceasefire negotiations, reconciliation agreements, or the documented 1980s policy debates that inform current interpretations (indicate which you prefer).