“There will be no Palestinian state in a thousand years” – Leaders of the Arab community in Hebron call to ditch the Palestinian Authority and enter the Abraham Accords as a new independent Emirate, making peace with Israel and pushing for diplomatic ties.By David Rosenberg, World Israel NewsThe Arab leaders of a predominantly Palestinian city south of Jerusalem have made the unprecedented call to split off from the Palestinian Authority and negotiate a separate peace treaty with Israel.On March 24th of this year, five sheikhs from the biblical city of Hebron penned a letter directed at the Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry, Nir Barkat (Likud), proposing that their city secede from the Palestinian Authority, establish itself as a separate emirate, and negotiate its own peace deal with Israel.Hebron, a city of major religious significance which features prominently in the Bible, is home to over 200,000 people, the vast majority of them Arabs with Palestinian Authority identity cards.A small Jewish community, numbering some 9,000, lives in and adjacent to Hebron, with some 700 Israeli Jews living in several small enclaves in the eastern portion of the city, near the town of Kiryat Arba, home to roughly 8,400 Israelis.Since a 1997 deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Hebron has been split between PA and IDF security control, with the Israeli military administering H2, spanning the eastern fifth of the city, while the PA has full control over H1, covering 80% of Hebron.For decades, Hebron was a hotbed of terrorist activity, with a significant Hamas presence.Now, however, a growing number of local leaders are calling for not only peace with Israel, but full normalization.“We want cooperation with Israel,” Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad, said, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. “We want coexistence.”Sheikh al-Jaabari, head of the city’s most powerful tribal clan, is one of the five original cosigners of the March 24th letter to Barkat.The five have met repeatedly with the Israeli minister in a bid to promote their plans to split from the PA – with Israel’s help. The sheikhs have also met or corresponded with multiple leaders of the Israeli settlement movement, including Yossi Dagan and Israel Ganz.Under the plan conveyed to Israel in the March letter, Hebron’s Arab leadership would break away from the PA and form a separate emirate, which would then enter the Abraham Accords, recognizing Israel and establishing full relations.“The Emirate of Hebron shall recognize the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” the five Hebron leaders wrote.“The State of Israel shall recognize the Emirate of Hebron as the Representative of the Arab residents in the Hebron District.”The plan would also include a pilot program enabling Hebronites to work inside Israeli territory, beginning with entry permits for 1,000 workers, rising to 6,000, and eventually 50,000.The five authors of the letter vowed “zero tolerance” for terrorism by workers, noting that under the present system, the Palestinian Authority “pays tributes to the terrorists,” referring to the so-called “pay-to-slay” program of offer stipends to jailed terrorists and to the families of slain terrorists.Since March, many other local leaders have joined the sheikh’s initiative, albeit anonymously, the Journal reported.“The people are with us,” one sheikh told the Journal. “Nobody respects the PA, nobody wants them.” The only reason to wait for Israel “is because it protects the PA.”Al-Jaabari explained the growing support for a separate deal with Israel, citing in part the understanding that following the October 7th invasion, Palestinian statehood is not on the table.“There will be no Palestinian state—not even in 1,000 years,” he said. “After Oct. 7, Israel will not give it.” The post Arab sheikhs call to split Hebron from Palestinian Authority, make separate peace with Israel appeared first on World Israel News.