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scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **Democratization process brings
Palestinian politics to a crossroad
By RAMZY BAROUD
Special to The Japan Times
KUALA LUMPUR -- Palestinian political life seems to be unwittingly
embracing a distinctive style, contradicting its own traditional political
parameters. The last few weeks clearly attest to this political divergence.
Predictably any serious transformation is not possible without a shakeup in
Fatah, the largest political party within the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
The late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat established Fatah in
1959, and it soon became the cornerstone of Palestinian resistance. Palestinian
politics were then absorbed by two areas: regional, where the PLO strove to
emerge as the sole representative of the Palestinian cause; and internal, where
various Palestinian factions competed to define their role within the PLO and
the resistance movement as a whole.
Thanks to Arafat, Fatah often emerged on top, but not unscathed. The group had
some serious fallouts with Arab states. Contentions also arose among PLO
factions, most often against the backdrop of corruption charges, lack of
transparency and as a result of Arafat's style of managing the struggle:
decisive and domineering.
Every phase of the Palestinian struggle, whether resulting from its own
dialectics or responding to regional and international crises and
transformations, influenced Palestinian political mechanisms in some way.
Nonetheless, a status quo was forming in which Fatah overshadowed the PLO, and
regardless of the intensity or seriousness of the surrounding circumstances,
nothing could have changed that formula.
Although the PLO's departure from Lebanon -- after the Israeli invasion of 1982
-- hardly altered Fatah's superior positioning on top of the Palestinian
political pyramid, it certainly altered its priorities. With its leaders
headquartered in Tunisia, resistance in its direct meaning was to become
localized, not exported. In 1987 Palestinians in the occupied territories began
their first intifada, only to be interrupted by the unwarranted and initially
secretive signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
While various Palestinian factions took on the responsibilities of the 1987
intifada, Fatah's young members carried a larger share. They successfully
renewed faith in the long exiled party, and resurrected its relevance to the
struggle altogether. The Tunisia crowd was incapable of offering any practical
contributions to the struggle.
It was during these years that the seeds of divergence within Fatah were
implanted. It seemed that the party was run by two different leaderships,
priorities and, in fact, objectives. An occupied territories-based "young
guard" was being nurtured, most of its members serving years in Israeli jails,
while the "old guard" were increasingly perceived with suspicion and mistrust.
Fatah's unilateral signing of Oslo was a cause for serious friction. But Arafat
once again cleverly managed to avert a crisis, though he sidelined most of the
PLO's factions -- now based in Damascus -- and eventually the PLO entirely.
Arafat, along with a large contingent of the old guard returned from exile in
1994, creating a new political setting, one that was clearly beyond their
ability to administer.
Fatah quickly filled the role of a quasi-government: the Palestinian Authority.
But the PA was not the PLO. The latter was created under different political
circumstances that promised to deliver freedom and victory. The former was at
best a dysfunctional self-serving government structure, sanctioned by Israel
and funded by various Western countries. The lead management of this structure
constituted mostly of "Tunisians," who in turn represented influential
families, the elitists with substantial business clout. The rift was widening.
The fracture within Fatah was overdue. Despite bashful attempts to articulate
itself at times, a semi-unity was maintained: One reason was Arafat's still
important presence as the conduit that kept the Fatah ship from being
completely submerged into chaos and factionalism. Another was the Hamas
challenge and its rise as a potent political, social and resistance force. A
third reason was the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising of 2000, which
helped espouse relative unity within Fatah and among most Palestinian groups
collectively resisting the Israeli occupation.
Arafat's mysterious death in November 2004 signaled a return to the Fatah
turmoil. Mahmoud Abbas survived the first fallout with the young guard when he
convinced charismatic Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti -- currently serving five
terms in Israeli jails -- to call off plans to compete in PA presidential
elections. After a double scare, Barghouti conceded, leaving the stage for
Abbas, now the sole Fatah candidate, to sweep the votes of the Palestinian
public.
But the gap grew even wider after Israel unilaterally "disengaged" from Gaza
with the hope of consolidating its control over East Jerusalem and the West
Bank. Violence in Gaza and charges of corruption everywhere else motioned that
a breakdown in the PLO's largest faction was now imminent. Concurrently, Hamas
continued to imprint itself on public opinion as a model of discipline, unity
and national responsibility. The group trounced Fatah in recent municipal
elections, claiming three of four West Bank cities.
The political plot thickens with the approach of the parliamentary elections
Jan. 25. Barghouti finally made the rift in Fatah official when his supporters
submitted an alternative list of candidates to contest the elections under a
different party name: al-Mustaqbal (the Future).
The move has opened the doors for various dramatic possibilities and has
ignited fear that a split in Fatah means a possible Hamas victory. The latter
possibility prompted the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a resolution
threatening a denial of financial aid to the PA if Hamas is allowed
participation.
The European Union has also declared that a Hamas victory will make it
difficult for the organization to maintain its financial support of
Palestinians.
Palestinian democracy faces its greatest challenge yet. The Fatah turbulence
was not expected to express itself in so dramatic a matter as a decisive
divorce between the old and young guard. It is imperative that such turmoil
remain confined to the ballot box. Whatever the outcome, Palestinians must not
yield to external pressure or internal strife, thus compromising their
democratic experience.
Ramzy Baroud, who teaches mass communication at the Malaysia campus of
Australia's Curtin University of Technology, is the author of the forthcoming
book "Writing on the Palestinian Uprising: a Chronology of a People's Struggle"
(Pluto Press, London).
The Japan Times: Dec. 28, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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