Issue No.587
Opinion
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23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Sharon's reforms
By Salama A Salama
Israel's incursions have wreaked havoc across Palestine. In the West Bank it has overtaken the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Al-Biara and Nablus. In Rafah and Gaza it has made its presence felt by attacks on the population, harassment and extra-judicial arrests.
Yet these incursions appear to be acknowledged as being somehow less and less a reason for Palestinian complaint. Instead, stress is being increasingly placed not on ending such infringements but on reforming the Palestinian Authority (PA). Pressure on Arafat to eliminate corruption, unify the security bodies and reform the administrative, legal and political apparatus of the PA is being applied from almost every direction. And the great prize, supposedly, is for Sharon to agree to negotiate with the PA, whether or not it is headed by Arafat, with the object of establishing a Palestinian state.
It is true that the PA is in need of internal reform, and was true even before the flare-up of the Intifada. It is also true that Arafat and his closest associates prevented this from happening in time. And though the incursions have forced Arafat to do what he had chosen to leave undone, there is perforce a difference between reform that is willingly undertaken and reform that is imposed by Israel and America.
Rather than consulting with the various internal parties to form a unified front through which to undertake reform, however, Arafat is again resorting to the most unlikely channels. As in Oslo, Arafat is consulting with Washington and the CIA. For this task he has selected one of his shadiest assistants, Mohamed Rasheed, who emerged into the limelight amid sudden and ambiguous circumstances to be immediately assigned the task of overseeing the required reform.
Washington expresses the desires of Sharon and it is no secret that Sharon is seeking to unify Palestinian security bodies under a leader other than Arafat, one who will be trusted by Israel and the CIA. What is disturbing about this is that having imposed his military rule on the West Bank and given soldiers the right to storm in and search wherever they wish, Sharon is now in a position to have the final say on Palestinian reform.
In rejecting Arafat's position that elections cannot take place as long as the re-occupation of areas acquired by Israel since 11 September continues, Washington is in effect approving the occupation of West Bank cities and the imposition of a cordon that prevents essential commodities and food supplies from entering or exiting their borders.
It is a truism that is worth restating: no reform can happen under occupation. The experiences of Zimbabwe, East Timor and Kosovo provide ample evidence of this: elections undertaken in such circumstances, without an independent, unbiased presence of international observers never achieve the desired objectives.
Oddly, those who refuse to hold elections under occupation are themselves calling for the establishing of a Palestinian state prior to negotiations. They are willing, in other words, to open negotiations with Israel while Israel is still in occupation of Palestine. And since there is no reason on earth why Israel should begin negotiations until the Palestinian ranks have been remobilised and unified into a coherent force what such people are in fact calling for is a continuation of the present plight.
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