Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Defining reforms

		30 May - 5 June 2002 Issue No.588 Region	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Defining reforms
In response to external and internal pressure, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has begun the process of restructuring the extremely weakened PA

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced this week that municipal elections would be held throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip before the end of this year. General elections are expected to follow, writes Khaled Amayreh.
Earlier, Arafat endorsed the Judiciary Law, which is intended to bring about a separation of powers in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and put an end to the rampant interference in the administration and enforcement of the law by the political and security establishment.
Arafat is also in the process of reshaping and overhauling the Palestinian security establishment as demanded by the United States and Israel. Palestinian sources close to the PA leadership intimated that Arafat had already approved plans to merge the estimated 14 Palestinian security agencies into four departments, all of which will come under the authority of the Interior Ministry. The four security branches include the internal and external security services, a civilian police force and a national security force responsible for controlling the borders.
It is not immediately clear what borders are to be controlled, since there are no mutually agreed-upon borders between the Israeli-occupied territories and Palestinian- administered areas. Indeed, the very talk of borders at a time when the PA has lost practically all physical control and authority in the West Bank suggests that the new security agencies would only carry out specific tasks to be determined in coordination with Israel in the foreseeable future.
According to the PA, the move is aimed at eliminating overlapping security branches and stemming the phenomenon of competing power centres. It is abundantly clear, however, that the real motivation behind the measure is to maximise central control, thus eradicating the existence of armed groups and individuals who operate outside the "legitimate sphere" and are not answerable to the PA.
Such steps fulfil what has always been a key Israeli demand. That is why Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and even Fatah have viewed with suspicion PA action to that effect, particularly the proposed ban and eventual incrimination of any group or individual carrying firearms not licensed by the Ministry of Interior. Such a ban would stem resistance attacks on Israeli occupation targets.
"All the Americans and the Zionists want is to force Arafat to end the resistance unconditionally while the occupation remains basking in our streets. Would that be acceptable to any people with dignity on the face of the earth?" said Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi.
Nonetheless, both Hamas and the PA realise that all these political and security reforms, including the elections, are likely to remain hypothetical as long as Israeli troops remain entrenched in and around Palestinian population centres.
Arafat himself conveyed this message to visiting Canadian Foreign Minister William Graham during their meeting in Ramallah on 26 May. He told Graham that all requisite reforms, including the planned organisation of local, municipal and general elections, would be virtually impossible so long as Palestinian areas are under occupation. Last week, Arafat had indicated that the elections could go ahead as planned with or without the withdrawal of Israeli troops. This stance, which was widely reported in the West but not sufficiently highlighted in the occupied territories, angered Hamas. The group's founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, accused the PA leadership of taking part in a vicious conspiracy to abort the Intifada.
"How can we possibly agree to enter this labyrinth while our towns, villages and refugee camps are under occupation?" Yassin said.
Other Palestinian leaders also raise practical questions pertaining to conditions under which elections can be conducted freely and without interference and intimidation from the Israeli occupation forces. These doubts acquire credibility at a time when Israeli forces and tanks continue to make daily incursions into Palestinian cities, often arresting political leaders, some of whom are prospective candidates in the upcoming elections.
One Palestinian writer, reflecting widespread sentiment in the occupied territories, asked: "What if Israeli troops stormed election gatherings and arrested opposition candidates? What if Israeli soldiers erected roadblocks, barring voters from reaching ballot boxes? What kind of election would it be if under the barrel of Israeli guns?"
And while there is a consensus within Palestinian public opinion that the Palestinian Authority is in dire need of reform, what these reforms are and how they are to be implemented is a matter of severe contention. This can be summed up in a single question: do the "reforms" serve the cause of Palestinian independence, or those of continuing Israel occupation? Just this week, Israeli Defense Minister Benyamin Ben-Eliezer declared that the most important reform the PA should undertake was to end the Palestinian Intifada.

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