The PNC and a very crazy measure

One of the most controversial issues nowadays is the call for the extraordinary meeting of the Palestinian National Council following the resignation of ten PLO Executive Committee members. The controversy revolves around the legality of the meeting, as according to Article 14/c of the Basic Law, extraordinary meetings occur to fill the positions of members who are absent because of death or resignation, etc. However, if the call is for a regular meeting, then those who have made it have gone beyond the issue of reconciliation, national unity and the Cairo meeting in March 2005, during which the PLO committee was formed under the leadership of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). In 2011, the committee was reinforced and regarded as the interim leadership according to the reconciliation agreements; it was charged with the reformation of the PNC by means of elections, if possible, or through national consensus in areas where elections cannot be held.

There are some who believe that this invitation was made in order to settle scores with those who are opposed to the president and his will, and to punish those who are against the man who orders and prohibits; the head of state. There are others who say that there are no disputes within the internal home and that the meeting seeks to study the political impasse reached by the Palestinian national movement.

The truth is that there have been some very opportunistic and selfish proposals, as some — who have interests riding on the meeting — are afraid that a PNC meeting will be held without them, so they recommended not inviting Hamas and Islamic Jihad to attend out of fear that they would lose the seats of the martyrs they had reserved. They have mostly been absent from the current scene, and, as such, they do not want elections to be held and do not want their shares distributed in the presence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

It is worth noting that the PNC and its chairman are overlooking what the PA president sees, in an effort by Salim Zanoun to keep matters going smoothly, unifying representation and preserving legitimacy. This fear is legitimate in light of the president’s concerns with [Mohamed] Dahlan, [Salam] Fayyad, Marwan [Barghouthi] and Yasser Abed Rabbo, as well as Hamas and the imagined alternative.

This is more dangerous because we were reconciled in March 2005 and we unified the path and mechanisms in order to make the PLO an umbrella organisation for every Palestinian. We then put in place mechanisms to overcome the detestable division in 2011, and we reinforced what we had agreed on with regards to the PLO being the interim framework of leadership. However, this crazy measure will make the PLO a collection of rival organisations rather than being a party and reference point, not a leader, for every Palestinian.

Finally, we must talk about how to escape from this. It is in our hands, by means of holding a meeting for the interim leadership and having a serious discussion about re-forming the PNC on sound democratic foundations, including all of its leadership committees and official institutions, along with pursuing the political and moral gains of our national project, as well as the fruits of the struggle.

Translated from Al Resalah, 27 August, 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.