Issue No. 593
Opinion
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4 - 10 July 2002 Issue No. 593 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Where do we start?
With the US and Israel cynically calling for reform of the PA, only the PLO can lead the movement for genuine, democratic reform, writes Mohamed Khaled Al-Azaar*
Calls for the reform of the Palestinian system of government have provoked a torrent of questions. What is the aim of this reform? Why is it being promoted now? Do its advocates harbour ulterior motives? And how much reform is required? What forces will be involved in the reform process? Above all, is it feasible, and what are its prospects for success? These questions may seem as natural as they are various, but if we trace them back, they are all shaped and overshadowed by a far more threatening phenomenon -- the ubiquitous presence of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Indeed, what is most remarkable about these calls for reform is the fact that their main proponent is the occupying power. It is no surprise, then, to find that Israel is intent on restricting the scope of any reform to the Palestinian Authority. For since the re-invasion of the Palestinian territories, the PA has largely been within Israel's grip, not only politically, but also even physically. As a result, the occupation, rather than being merely a coincidence, is the central fact to bear in mind when determining how to respond to the proposed reforms.
There are certain facts on which we can all agree. In the first place, it is clear that the Palestinian government system is indeed in need of reform. We need greater transparency and accountability, together with less corruption. Reforms that can achieve these goals can only enhance the capacity of the Palestinian people to confront the occupation and realise their aspirations to freedom and independent statehood.
The Palestinian people deserve a better political system than that they have now. At both intellectual and grass-roots levels, the Palestinians have long appealed for democratic reform. In the past, such appeals have gained or lost momentum at various junctures. Now, however, the recent Israeli incursions have made democratisation an absolute and immediate imperative.
Israel has occupied Palestinian territory by brute force, perpetrating state terrorism against the Palestinian people and their leaders and systematically humiliating them. This occupation is supported by the same international forces, including the US, that support Israel's appeal for reform of the Palestinian political system. Let us not mistake the ultimate aim of this alliance: it is not to promote democracy for democracy's sake, but rather to create a system that is totally free of the taint of anti-Israeli resistance, at both the ideological and the practical levels. In particular, it is to bring into being a system that has no link whatsoever with any of the more violent forms of resistance. Israel and its allies will then be able to use these new structures to impose their own preferred political settlement, even if this does not correspond to the aspirations of the Palestinian people and does not honour their historical and legal rights.
This Israeli-international agenda for reforming the Palestinian governing system is spurious. After all, the system was perfectly acceptable to these parties until quite recently. Indeed, the occupying power and its allies were themselves responsible for many of the failures of that system, for it is only since the PA decided to depart from its masters' agenda that the decision was taken first to discipline it and then to reform it.
One might deduce from these observations that there can be no valid reform of the Palestinian government system as long as the country is under occupation. Of course, there are many sincere advocates of effective democratic reform both within and without Palestine. Yet, it might be argued, whatever they may do to ensure that the reform process is genuine, Israel and its allies will always have the upper hand.
Rather than submitting to fate and accepting that the national movement is doomed to enter a long decline, we should acknowledge the reality of the Israeli occupation and look instead for ways to reduce its impact. Israel, after all, has never been anything but an impediment to Palestinian political development, so we know what we should expect. Thus, the Palestinians need to create mechanisms enabling them to direct the process of reform in spite of the Israeli presence. After all, they have devised such mechanisms in the past, and under similar constraints, at times when they seemed to be on the verge of social, economic and political extinction.
How are we to do this? I propose that instead of focusing on the Palestinian Authority, which remains largely within the grip of the occupying power, the process of reform should instead centre on the role and structure of the PLO.
The PLO is the acknowledged authority underpinning the PA. True, its charter, institutions and functions have suffered abuse and attrition, but it is still very much alive, and it is widely recognised, not only among Palestinians, but also in the Arab world and internationally, and even in Israel.
Not only is the PLO more remote from Israeli influence than is the PA, it also operates outside the Palestinian territories and represents a far broader political spectrum of Palestinian society, ranging from supporters of Oslo and its results, to opponents of this process. For this reason, the PLO is better placed than the PA to channel the desire for reform into the constructive consolidation of national structures. It is also better able to resist the Israeli desire to see those structures broken up.
Moreover, once we begin to breathe new life into the PLO, it should not be difficult to persuade Hamas and Islamic Jihad to come on board. Indeed, an important part of the reform process will be to expand the scope of the PLO to include these movements, which have proven their efficacy in the field and acquired broad grass-roots support.
In this way, the reform process, instead of playing into Israel's hands, can become a tool for resistance in the present, as well as laying the ground for a genuinely democratic future.
* The writer is a Cairo-based Palestinian political analyst.
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