Bahbah: A Message to the Leaders of the PA and Hamas
By: Bishara A. Bahbah/Arab America Featured Columnist
In her resignation letter from the PLO’s Executive Committee, Hanan Ashrawi, the most renowned orator among the Palestinians, an activist, and a women’s rights advocate wrote:
“I believe it is time to carry out the required reform and to activate the PLO in a manner which restores its standing and role, including respecting the mandate of the Executive Committee rather than its marginalization and exclusion from decision-making.“
“The Palestinian political system needs renewal and reinvigoration with the inclusion of youth, women, and additional qualified professionals.“
https://www.pbs.org/video/hanan-ashrawi-explains-why-shes-resigning-plo-qmnjn7/
I have known Dr. Ashrawi for many years. Quite frankly, I am truly surprised that it took her 11-12 years on the PLO’s executive committee to come to these conclusions and to act.
Why am I surprised?
Dr. Ashrawi is a very intelligent woman and should have recognized those issues that she complained about from year one. Maybe she joined the executive committee with the hope that she would be able to influence the course and policies of the PLO, make positive changes, or for the exposure and prestige that the position bestowed upon her. But I am not going to second guess why it took her so long to resign, that is her business.
However, there are many reasons that the current leadership of the PLO, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Hamas should consider leaving and schedule open and free elections to make room for a new (including more women), younger, more pragmatic, and visionary generation of Palestinian leaders to emerge.
Conditions around us have changed and so has the world. Palestinians need to acclimatize with the times:
1. Both Hamas and the PA leaderships are not elected
Hamas assumed power in Gaza, by military force in 2007. Taking over the leadership of Gaza, under those circumstances, is an illegitimate act. In blunt terms, Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip is unlawful.
Elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council or parliament were held in 2006. However, in 2007, the PA suspended the elected Legislative Council. After the Hamas-Fatah alliance collapsed, following Hamas’ seizure of the reins of power in Gaza, the PA arrested many of Hamas’ legislators. Israel obliged as well by arresting other Hamas Legislative Council members in the West Bank.
With regard to Mahmoud Abbas’ presidency, he was duly elected in 2005 for a four-year period. As such, he legally ceased being the president of the PA in 2009. Instead, Abbas extended his own term until the next presumed elections in 2010, citing the PLO constitution as the legal basis for his action. However, presidential elections have not been held since 2005 and, Abbas has stayed in power ever since.
In April 2014, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a “unity government,” which lasted until October 2016.
2. The collusion of the international community to assuage the Palestinians.
Fearing a void in leadership and the chaos that might ensue and cause major security upheaval in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the international community, especially Israel and the United States, have maintained their recognition of Abbas and the PA. Fatah reasoned that since Abbas was elected as chairman of the PLO by its Central Committee on December 16, 2009, then he would be “entitled” to be president of the PA until new presidential elections are held. Clearly few countries were willing to deal with Hamas. Hence the international community through its weight behind Abbas ignoring the issue of whether he is duly elected or not. Abbas, for them, is better than the alternative – an Islamist militant state in the occupied Palestinian territories.
3. The rise of uncertain leadership.
At the ripe age of 85, everyone around President Abbas has been jockeying for power awaiting his death. Yet, Abbas fearful of losing any of his powers have refused to even select a vice president. In the meantime, the political vultures surrounding him have been amassing arms and buying loyalties so that when the day comes to choose his successor, they will be in a better position to replace him. This unfortunately sums up the type of leaders that will succeed Abbas.
4. Palestinians need an independent party.
There is a dire need for the formation of a “independent party.” The majority of Palestinians are neither Fatah nor Hamas members. They are independent. The potential leaders emerging from such a party, in my view, would put the interests of the people first and foremost. They would not inherit the baggage that comes with either Fatah or Hamas. And they would represent the silent majority among the Palestinians.
5. Unsuccessful efforts.
The track record of both the PA and Hamas in serving the Palestinian shows no success. Tens of billions of dollars flowed into the PA’s coffers since the 1993 Oslo Accords – ironically, more than the billions that President Donald Trump promised in his failed peace proposal. In the meantime, Iran armed and financed Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. It wanted a proxy, similar to the other proxies they control in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, to fight back Israeli aggression.
6. Misspending of funds:
What do Palestinian leaders, in either Gaza or Ramallah, have to show for billions of dollars donated by the Arabs and international community? The PA’s priorities have been to:
a) Erect symbols of power such as the impressive buildings in Ramallah to house the presidential compound and the foreign ministry.
b) Recruit and train about 70,000 security personnel [primarily to protect Israel]. And,
c) Establish a monstrous government bureaucracy.
The PA should have allocated more funds on economic development, adequate healthcare system, or infrastructure. The majority of the PA’s annual budget has been largely consumed by the payroll to its security personnel and its bureaucracy.
Conversely, Hamas’ military ventures have destroyed the Gaza Strip and impoverished its population. Unemployment in Gaza is astronomical, drinking water is scare, and electricity is available for only a few hours a day. Sadly, the majority of families in Gaza live under the poverty line.
7. Was it a missed deal?
On this point, I cannot lay the blame entirely on the Palestinians. Israeli intransigence, the continued expropriations of lands, the demolition of Palestinian houses, the expansion of settlements, the holding of 6,000 Palestinian prisoners – all point to an untenable situation on the ground.
However, when presented with peace offers by, for example, Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert – as imperfect as they were – the Palestinian leadership walked away from them hoping for a better offer in the future. What happened next was the advent of the cunning, illusive, pro-settlement, and right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu. When forced Netanyahu would state that he is for a two-state solution; otherwise, he has famously said that there would never be a Palestinian state “under my watch.”
8. Unfortunate time.
Repeatedly, Abbas has said that “time is on the Palestinians’ side” and, continually, history has proven him wrong. And the biggest disaster of all befell the Palestinians when Trump became president of the United States. Under Trump’s watch, the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump refused to categorize Israeli settlements as “illegal,” he closed down the PLO office in Washington and cut off all type of U.S. humanitarian, economic, and security aid to the Palestinians.
9. Banking on Biden.
President-elect Joe Biden will undo some of Trump’s policies apropos the Palestinians but, the Palestine-Israel conflict is low on his list of priorities. What he will end up doing is maintaining the status quo that existed prior to Trump but will not return the U.S. embassy to Tel Aviv. Biden will not expend the time and energy, like Obama, Bush, and Clinton on trying to resolve the conflict. In other words, the Israeli occupation will continue while the world applies band-aids to silence the Palestinians with financial aid and some “tenderness and love.”
The Time for Change is Now
The Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza, and those scattered throughout the Middle East in refugee camps are tired, disheartened, and feel betrayed by their leadership.
Abbas move on! Haniyeh, no one wants an Islamist state in Palestine. Religion belongs in the heart, at home, in churches and mosques. It does not belong in politics. You either sit down together and work out your differences and hold elections or resign. I know this is wishful thinking but clinging to power the way you do will mean a nasty end for you.
The current Palestinian so-called leaders have failed. The Palestinian people are highly educated people – they hold more Ph.D. degrees per capita compared to any other country in the world. Do not take the people for fools.
Hamas, since 2007, you have imprisoned more than 100,000 people in Gaza. Are you jailors or liberators?
In short, the Palestinians need:
- Freedom to express their views without fear either from Israel, the PA, or Hamas.
- Immediate elections so that the people may decide who their leaders are going to be. There need not be unification between Fatah and Hamas to hold elections. There needs to be a truce to allow elections to be held. For its own sake, Israel should allow those elections.
- New blood is needed to work in the sphere of public policy, i.e., government institutions, think tanks, and universities.
- A vision and a workable strategy to deal with the peace process and Israel’s continued Israeli occupation. Peace is achievable despite all the existing obstacles.
- Israelis can be shown that peace is in their self-interest and will enhance their security – this is a point that Palestinians continually do not recognize. Israelis need to feel “secure and not threatened” to make peace.
- There will never be perfect peace. Peace will entail tough compromises on both sides. Israeli and Palestinian leaders should be pragmatic and courageous to make the tough decisions to achieve peace. The land will not provide either side with security or peace.
The time is ripe now for change in both Israel and Palestine. But change will require leaders to make tough yet honorable decisions. Palestinians and Israelis are locked in man-made vicious circles. Abbas, Haniyeh, Netanyahu – please, retire. It is about time that Palestinians and Israelis feel the positive inspiration and vision of new leaders.
Prof. Bishara Bahbah was the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem based “Al-Fajr” newspaper between 1983-84. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the Peace Talks on Arms Control and Regional Security. He taught at Harvard and was the associate director of its Kennedy School’s Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America.
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