The scenario in Palestine will get worse by the day. Nevertheless, this isn’t solely from Israeli crimes in opposition to the Palestinians, together with Sheikh Jarrah, however from the behaviour of the now self-proclaimed Palestinian management in Ramallah. A matter of some days has separated the illegitimate assembly of the Palestinian Central Council and the latest announcement that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is now a unit underneath the State of Palestine.
I say the ‘self-proclaimed- management’ as a result of not one of the Palestinian establishments underneath the PLO have legitimacy and, due to this fact, the management of those establishments is illegitimate. Mahmoud Abbas considers himself to be the President of Palestine, the Chairman of the Govt Committee of the PLO and the President of the Palestinian Authority. He additionally considers himself the Chairman of Fatah and the President of the State of Palestine. The final election he participated in to hold out any of those roles was in 2005, when he was elected the President of the Palestinian Authority. No supporter of democracy can think about Abbas a reputable chief 17 years after his election.
In January of final 12 months, Abbas issued an elections decree, setting the stage for elections of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), adopted by elections for the Workplace of the President of Palestine, after which the ‘completion’ of the Palestine Nationwide Council (PNC), the Parliament for 14 million Palestinians the world over.
The PNC has by no means seen elections of its membership and has not often met since its first assembly in Jerusalem in 1964 when it consisted of 422 representatives. It was held in the course of the time when the combat was for the liberation of Palestine and elections couldn’t be held. In its most up-to-date assembly in 2018, it noticed numbers rise to round 700, although it’s a wrestle to seek out the names of the present members. The scenes on TV from Ramallah, when totally different lists have been pushed to the excessive desk and folks added to exchange members who had handed away or have been unwell, have been shambolic and embarrassing.
At this identical assembly, the PNC delegated its powers to the smaller Palestinian Central Council (PCC). A smaller physique, which was alleged to encompass 60 members however they now quantity greater than 120. Abbas known as it to satisfy on 5 and 6 of February, which was met with an outcry from Palestinians when it grew to become clear that the true function in holding it was to exchange members of the Govt Committee, who had both handed away or resigned – and bizarrely and illegitimately to nominate a brand new speaker for the PNC. I say ‘bizarrely’, as a result of the PCC can’t elect or appoint the Speaker of the PNC, or these round him within the committee that leads the PNC.
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A number of Palestinian factions together with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP, the Palestinian Nationwide Initiative, boycotted the assembly. As well as, key people, together with former EC member, Hanan Ashrawi, and former Deputy Speaker of the PLC, Hassan Khreisha, additionally boycotted the assembly. The next day, Israel assassinated 3 members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in broad daylight in Nablus. Palestinians smelt a rat, as many consider this might not have occurred with out safety cooperation between the PA safety forces and the Israeli military.
The ultimate assertion from the PCC was not issued for an additional 24 hours. Satirically, maybe, it contained a choice to droop safety cooperation with Israel.
It’s reputable to ask the query: What are Abbas and the management in Ramallah as much as?
It will be significant, in my opinion, to return to a different incident that angered Palestinians, that of the assembly which came about in Tel Aviv on the house of Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, which was attended on the Palestinian aspect by Mahmoud Abbas and the now new member of the PLO EC, Hussein Al Sheikh, believed to be the individual being lined as much as inherit Abbas’ varied positions.
Reviews from the assembly have been at reverse ends of the spectrum, relying on who you consider. If you happen to consider Al Sheikh, it was a heroic assembly by the management and that the political scenario was uplifted. Nevertheless, when you consider the Israeli aspect, the assembly was about easing the financial restrictions on the Palestinians and issuing household reunifications for Palestinians that some have been ready for a few years. It is usually alleged that the Palestinians agreed to halt, or placed on the again burner, the circumstances being delivered to the Worldwide Felony Courtroom in opposition to Israeli leaders, together with Gantz himself.
Allow us to ask ourselves the next query: Would Gantz have acquired Abbas and exchanged items with him in his house – constructed on the ruins of a Palestinian village – if the latter oversaw the compiling of a file on Gantz that might lead to him showing earlier than The Hague?
As I stated in a recent article, Abbas thinks he can proceed to take the Palestinians for fools. Effectively, no extra.
The Palestinians are organising, not solely to deliver Israeli crimes to the eye of the world however to get rid of the illegitimate management in Ramallah, which is, in itself, not solely placing the Palestinian trigger at nice danger but additionally working to make the PLO an extinct organisation.
This newest assault on the PLO, that of naming it a unit underneath the State of Palestine successfully ending its function as the highest canine, the umbrella for Palestinians, not solely in historic Palestine however the world over. How can the State of Palestine, which Abbas defines as on the 1967 strains of which he’s the President, have as one in every of its models the PLO which represents all Palestinians the world over? It appears Abbas is hell-bent on ending the function of the PLO, but additionally sustaining its PNC and PCC and EC as devices to make use of as when he believes it serves a function.
It appears, additionally, that Abbas has fully bought out to the Israelis. Up to now, he met his reverse quantity, the Prime Minister of Israel; now he meets the battle (defence) minister and the person answerable for numerous deaths and the horrendous destruction of Gaza, notably in 2014. The extremist Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, has declared that there can be no Palestinian State and that he is not going to meet Abbas face-to-face or re-start negotiations.
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By cooperating with the Apartheid state, whereas calling on the world neighborhood to sanction it for its insurance policies and by holding heat conferences with Israeli battle criminals, Abbas is accepting that the Palestinian concern is an inner Israeli concern, slightly than a world concern. This comes at a time when report after report after report calls Israel an Apartheid state, and folks the world over stand in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Abbas and people round him are actually complicit, not solely in safety cooperation however in handing Palestine to the Israelis on a plate and accepting self-rule over the 1967 areas, or components of them.
The Palestinian folks reject this and are insisting on rebuilding the PLO. Bear in mind what the L stands for in PLO – Liberation – not Loyalty to the occupier. Current strikes to type a coalition to demand the rebuilding of the PLO by elections within the PNC are gathering tempo and the choice to unitise the PLO will spearhead us on. Palestinians can’t sit again and let a bunch of sell-outs settle for defeat to the settler colonialist Apartheid state. They solely signify themselves and should now go.
While initiatives for rebuilding the PLO have insisted on preserving the physique as the only consultant of the Palestinians slightly than organising an alternate, this transfer would be the turning level that places all choices on the desk.
If the selection is management or Palestine, it seems that, for the Management, it’s management; nonetheless, for Palestinians, there is no such thing as a alternative – it’s Palestine.
The views expressed on this article belong to the creator and don’t essentially mirror the editorial coverage of Center East Monitor.
