When democracy becomes a condition for national liberation

Written by: Jamal Zaqout

The failure of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the entire national movement to define the stage of the emergence of the national authority as a new stage in which the tasks of national liberation overlapped with the tasks of democratic construction to an inseparable degree, which constituted a shift in the nature of the structural and complex crisis of the fragile political system, for which we are all paying the price today. This failure not only led to the inability of the authority and its social forces throughout its first decade to crystallize a philosophy of governance that accurately and tightly links the two overlapping phases as Siamese twins, but also failed to define the nature of the tools capable of pursuing their tasks, including the separation between the authority and the organization. . The behavior of the opposition was also the other side of the coin of failure, when it contented itself with considering that the establishment of the authority itself represented a departure from the national camp, and refused to accept its unity, and what it required of a comprehensive national contribution to the consolidation of its social contract and its security doctrine according to the nature of the stage, thus opening, with great regret, The door to internal conflict is wide open, which is deepening to this day in its worst forms of division.

If we look at the content of the tasks of national liberation in the stage of democratic building of the institutions of power, and the prevailing belief at the time that this process is merely a negotiating process that will automatically lead to ending the occupation, this policy has put our entire national destiny hostage to the occupation government’s veto, which is unprecedentedly deep in the scene of the Israeli elections. What is taking place today between two camps, both of which refuse to recognize the Palestinians' right to self-determination. The same applies to the extent to which the structure of the institutions of power was marred by mismanagement, corruption, and the scarcity of adopting the principle of the right person in the right place. The Great Intifada, from its role and its ability to contribute to the national liberation process as part of the strategy to transfer the entire mass movement, which has always played a central role in establishing the national movement and the Liberation Organization, and in the course of the national struggle since the Nakba, to retirement, which made the national movement lose its most important weapon. What was done by this wide network in preserving the unity of the societal fabric and the national cause of our people, and caused great damage that seems impossible to restore in the context of the reality of the current political system, which is divided against itself.

In the institutions of government, and regardless of the nature of the regimes themselves, there are two “books” for the exercise of power. The context of the nature of the stage and the philosophy of governance, including the action plan and the core issues that must be undertaken, and the most qualified and experienced consultants are attracted to contribute to its crystallization and implementation mechanisms, and those who work behind the scenes, to crystallize priorities, mobilize resources, and ways of accurate and successful implementation of these issues.

Since the presidential era in which we live and the incursion of the division of the political system, it seems that the “second book” that includes the issues that we have to deal with has been lost or torn. That is with the first book, and bringing the category of loyalists regardless of their competence and experience, and the list of prohibitions included in the first book became priorities for work, despite the nature of the dangerous stage we live in and its increasing complexities, and the wisdom and deliberation it requires. In the context of this, there were dozens of laws and decisions that affected broad sectors of society and the social forces of the Authority itself, especially the administrative and financial decisions, “dismissal and collective referrals for retirement, and the invention of the so-called financial retirement for the Authority’s employees in the Gaza Strip,” and the reluctance to take fundamental steps to contain the division. By presenting a national plan that Hamas cannot reject, and if it rejects it, it will be besieged popularly and lose. However, what has been done is the exact opposite of that, to the extent that the divisive Hamas almost repudiates the accusation of division, and even succeeds in attaching it to power, and the most dangerous thing is the conviction of the majority of the people in this matter.

The division is the home of the disease and its continuation wraps the neck of the ruling regime on both sides of the scene, and turns it into an authoritarian, exclusionary rule with full specifications. In Gaza, the "rule of the divine congregation" extends and is unique to power and decision, and here is the rule of the individual who does not see a need for the institution, which the president himself, on the eve of his assumption of power, considered it his highest priority, except that this promise evaporated, until this form of government became dominated by a narrow cell. Of the advisors, it has no possibilities of ruling other than implementing the issues of the book of prohibitions, and what this generates in terms of eroding and undermining what remains of the authority’s status and its social incubator, including the Fatahists among them. In this context, the decision was made to dissolve the Legislative Council and insist on not holding elections, which limits the battle to the so-called succession between a group of aspirants behind the back of the people and without their will. A number of laws were issued by decisions that affected the independence and prestige of the judiciary and its status, especially in The absence of the legislative authority remained, and finally the organic linking of the judicial institution to the head of the executive authority, and the final overthrow of the principle of separation of powers, not their monopoly in one hand. This raises a strategic question about the nature of the state whose people made the greatest sacrifices to win its independence. Is only Israel’s denial of our right to self-determination the only obstacle that prevents the embodiment of this state on the ground, or is it, in addition to this Israeli aggression against our people’s right to freedom and sovereignty, the assault on the pillars of the structure of a unified national democratic political system based on the separation of powers and the preservation of political pluralism? Intellectual, freedom of opinion and expression, and other principles that our people have previously enshrined in the course of their long and complex national struggle, have become, unfortunately, the second arm of the guillotine to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, which, in addition to its cultural and historical extension in this country, is a qualitative addition to civilization and human progress. At the same time, it is able to attract the support of the free people and the peoples of the world in the face of the growing racism to the point of fascism that brings Kahane's group "Ben Gvir and Smotrich" to the heart of the Hebrew state and its political system, as an expression of its historical predicament.

The retraction of some laws of the judiciary in the face of a strike and the gift of lawyers, as well as the retraction of the rehearsal for the dissolution of the Doctors’ Syndicate on the pretext of its “Palestinization”, which seemed to have been a prelude to the dissolution and re-establishment of the various professional syndicates, had it not been for the professional disobedience of the doctors and the fairness of their union battle, confirming the tyranny of the priority of engineering the regime according to The narrow dimensions of the ruling cell, regardless of any consideration, including the safety of society, the extent of the cohesion of its structure and national fabric, and the preservation of its gains, yet they also clearly confirm that the battle for the defense of civil and social rights has become wide open, and that syndicate and professional success in it is possible as long as it is It is fair and stems from adhering to the peaceful, democratic option as a model for change, and that this social democratic battle needs to redefine itself as an integral part of the battle for national destiny, and the importance of its integration with waves of national donations rising from the heart of occupied Jerusalem and from the poor neighborhoods of cities, towns and camps, and on a larger scale. This includes correcting the course of the stage, its national democratic character, and its urgent need to organize its mass and popular support within the framework of the tasks of rebuilding the national movement. Patriotism for the Palestinian people in all places of their presence, and through inclusive national institutions that rehabilitate the Palestine Liberation Organization as a national front and a broad coalition that leads the tasks of national liberation, and for the institutions of the Authority as a basic lever for national steadfastness.