What leadership do our people need at this stage?

Before his death, the late great Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi often repeated to his interlocutors that the core of the Palestinian crisis lies in the politicians' lack of adherence to moral principles. This noble Palestinian leader believed that honesty and transparency are the foundation of trust between a leader and his people, and that the loss of morality inevitably leads to the loss of the cause. He also emphasized that "we cannot establish a free homeland without building a morally free human being," meaning that liberating the land is inseparable from building a human being with values.

In his famous speech during the 1991 Madrid negotiations, Haidar emphasized that justice and a commitment to truth must be the primary reference for any negotiation or agreement, emphasizing, "We do not seek peace because we are weak, but because we believe in justice, truth, and human dignity. True peace can only be built on honesty and mutual respect."

Abu Khaled was a model leader who embodied the national conscience, a unique type of leader who was open and honest in his dealings with the people. In his political practice, he emphasized his saying, "I cannot imagine a national leadership that is not based on honesty with the people. Deception, even if it brings immediate gains, destroys the cause in the long run." In a lecture he gave in Gaza in 1996 on building a state, he said, "It is not enough to liberate the land; we must liberate ourselves from lies, corruption, and tyranny. Morality is the foundation of freedom." In a speech he delivered during a youth symposium in Gaza in 1997, he addressed them, saying, "You are our true hope. Do not allow politics to become a school of deception or opportunism. Make morality the foundation of struggle and public action. Whoever loses his conscience has lost his homeland, no matter how many fleeting interests he gains." In a short letter he wrote on the occasion of the founding of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights in 1994, he said, "There is no democracy without morals, and no rights without justice. Let us place the law above people, not people above the law."

The appropriate occasion to return to these statements and recall the moral values and principles of national action embodied by Haidar Abdel Shafi in his political practice is the current state of the Palestinian cause, the behavior of those dominating the public scene, and the dangers that actually threaten the liquidation of the cause and the loss of rights. Abdel Shafi resigned from the leadership of the Madrid/Washington negotiations delegation, not only because the influential leadership negotiated and reached the Oslo Accords behind his back, but also because the agreement bypassed the central element of the Washington negotiations, represented by the stipulation to halt settlement activity. This was not only because it is the most hideous manifestation of the occupation, but also because it reveals the Palestinian historical narrative of the identity of the land, which Israel has always refused to recognize, clinging to its false narrative that refuses to recognize us as a people and our natural right to self-determination in our homeland.

However, Haidar did not hesitate to appeal to the people at the ballot box, winning by a wide margin his seat on the Legislative Council for the Gaza City district in the 1996 elections. He also did not hesitate to resign from it after concluding that the nature of the Council's composition did not allow for the necessary oversight, accountability, and accountability of the executive authority represented by President Arafat and his largely monolithic government.

Today, despite the war of extermination and the policy of ethnic cleansing aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people, subjugating them to the Zionist project, and implementing annexation and liquidation plans, those dominating the political scene continue to ignore the demands of unity to confront these plans aimed at eradicating the Palestinian narrative and existence from the land of our forefathers. This calls for restoring the role and status of inclusive national institutions. This applies not only to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but also to the partner and founding forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the leadership of the glorious uprisings that have always revived the cause and served as a protective shield for the leadership itself.

Any step in the Palestinian political system, including the creation of the position of Vice President of the Executive Committee and the State of Palestine, must be subject to the extent to which it serves the highest national priorities, primarily represented by stopping the war of extermination against our people in Gaza. The obvious question is: Does absolving Israel of responsibility for the crimes of genocide and holding the resistance responsible for their continuation serve this priority, or does it encourage Israel to continue its crimes? Can this creation, without regard for national consensus, and even removing the Beijing Document for National Consensus from the work of the Central Council, strengthen the internal situation, including the formulation of rational national solutions to escape the bottleneck that is suffocating us all? Or is it a continuation of the tightening of the grip on governance and national decision-making in the narrowest circle, persisting with the policies of isolation, exclusivity, and exclusion with all their disastrous repercussions, which isolates this leadership from the popular will and makes it easier for the enemy to isolate it and attempt to subjugate it? Many pivotal questions arise, most notably: Why is the option of unity, steadfastness, and at least consensus being turned away, and why is an option that has proven its failure being pursued since the back was turned away from what Haidar Abdel Shafi's approach represented in terms of reliance on conscience and respect for the will of the people. Although positions differed regarding the Oslo process at the time, the path of annexation, settlement, and trampling on the terms of reference of the settlement, and the attempt to reduce it to the terms of reference of the brutal occupation force and what Israel wants or does not want, which preceded October 7, is supposed to have resolved this divergence, including through decisions previously issued by the National and Central Councils, which were stuffed into dark drawers, while the urgent decision to establish the ambiguous Central Council was implemented within 24 hours.

Today, the prevailing reality cannot be changed by continuing to weep over the past and the status quo. Only through loyalty to the values and legacy of the national struggle and its rich lessons can all those who sense the imminent danger to the national destiny come together to build a broad national front to save this destiny from liquidation. From this front, a unified national leadership will emerge to restore the PLO's position as a united national front to lead the national liberation struggle, inspired by the noble leadership qualities of Haidar Abdul Shafi.