Tribes and Clans
Tribes and clans play a central—sometimes alternative—role in Palestinian society, especially in areas where formal governance is weak or absent. Though often used interchangeably, the two terms have distinct meanings within the Palestinian context.
Tribes (qaba’il) are the largest and most historic kinship units, especially relevant among Bedouin communities. A tribe typically comprises several clans, all claiming descent from a distant common ancestor.
Clans (asha’ir) are smaller kinship units—either tribal subdivisions or standalone entities—made up of multiple extended families.
Today, clans are one the most influential means of social, financial, economic and political organisation in Palestinian life, especially in and around Hebron, the Jordan Valley and southern Gaza.
There is, for example, close alignment in Hebron between the Salafi Hizb ut-Tahrir movement and local clans. Clans also continue to play influential roles in groups such as Fatah and Hamas. Major institutions are also sometimes similarly embedded in clan dynamics, with Hebron University controlled by the Jabari clan, while the rival Palestine Polytechnic University is controlled by the Tamimi clan.
Some clans also maintain armed militias and have been involved in illicit activities and organised crime. For instance, Jaysh al-Islam, a Salafi-jihadist group active in Gaza, is led by the Dughmush clan. Similarly, members of the Israeli-backed Popular Forces in Gaza, including its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, are drawn predominantly from the Abu Shabab clan (and its Tarabin tribe).
Clans also operate their own informal judicial systems, mediating disputes such as blood feuds, property conflicts, and even dealing with criminal offences. Meanwhile, authorities rely on clans to extend their own social control. During covid-19 lockdowns, the Palestinian Authority used clan networks to enforce a “code of honour” prohibiting social gatherings.
The clan system can be traced back to the Ottoman era, when prominent families governed rural areas and mediated disputes. Clan authority expanded under Israeli military rule following Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in June 1967. During this time Palestinians also turned to clan leaders to avoid Israeli courts.
Israel leveraged the clan system to manage the occupied Palestinian population, empowering mukhtars (clan leaders) as intermediaries dealing with permits, population registration and civil matters. Between 1978–1984, Israel formalised this through the Village Leagues, which collapsed under widespread Palestinian resistance during the first intifada.
The clan adjudication system was further normalised after the Oslo accords, when the PA established a Tribal Affairs Department. This allowed clan leaders to further consolidate their roles as intermediaries for accessing jobs, government benefits, permits and even legal outcomes.
Both the PA and Hamas have also attempted to co-opt the clan system to consolidate their own domestic standing. The PA has, for example, appointed clan leaders to senior posts, such as Suleiman Hilles who led the National Security Forces in Gaza, while his cousin Adel Hilles ran the PA’s Criminal Investigation Department, staffing it with members of his clan.
Upon taking control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas created the General Administration for Tribal Affairs and Reform which it used to rein in powerful clans like the Dughmush and strengthen its control. With Israel striking Hamas’s police force, clans have also stepped in to secure the distribution of aid, often in coordination with the Islamist group.
Today, Israel appears to be reviving tribal structures again—as a counterweight to Hamas and the PA. Some Israeli policymakers have floated proposals to fragment Palestinian governance in both Gaza and the West Bank into local “emirates” ruled by cooperative clans— including members of the Jabari clan in the West Bank, as well as the Dughmush and Abu Shabab in the Gaza Strip.