Towards a rescue conference and the tasks of rebuilding the national project

Written by: Dr. Omar Rahhal
Perhaps the term Palestinian national project is the term most used in the Palestinian case and the most ambiguous at the same time. I start with the following question that we have daily, which is why the Palestinian revolution did not triumph like other revolutions, whether those that used armed resistance, popular resistance, peaceful resistance, or negotiation , or those that combined the various forms and methods of resistance? It is not an exaggeration to say that the sacrifices made by the Palestinian people since the first Zionist settlement was established on our land in the garment (Petah Tikva), meaning the key to hope in Hebrew in 1878, and until this moment, are sufficient to accomplish the national project, liberate Palestine and establish an advanced state by all standards, despite all the sacrifices. Did we thwart the Zionist project, and did the Palestinian national project succeed? Anyone who follows the Palestinian situation has no doubts that we have failed to achieve our national goals. Our land has been occupied since 1948, and the areas devoured by the Zionist colonial project are increasing daily, to the point where the Palestinians have isolated pockets here and there, and even these pockets are devoured by settlements and daily policies of demolition, displacement and forced displacement.
And although the Palestinian national project is based on the consensus of the various Palestinian national and Islamic factions, parties, and forces, and its main pillars, which are the ultimate goals of the national struggle, the means and actions of the national struggle, the legitimacy of the national representative, and the specifics of the Palestinian situation, and although the national project at its inception was aimed at To the defeat of the Zionist project, but today, after many developments, the national project has become ambiguous, and the pillars of consensus began to shake and collapse one after the other.
Just as our calamities, defeats, setbacks, and crises continue without stopping. The current Palestinian situation is complex, a state of fragmentation and division, wandering, uncertainty and confusion. We do not know precisely our destination. We walk steadily behind mirages and illusions. Futile negotiations, we are spinning in a vicious circle, we are the "victim", but the world holds us responsible for what is happening, as if we are the ones occupying the land of Israel, and we do not manage our situation well.
The national action strategy, the national project, political partnership, and other terms that are circulated in the political and media discourse, whether by the political class, or through the elite, although there is a minimum level of agreement on what it is, but there is no consensus among the Palestinian factions either. The tools and mechanisms involved within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization or outside it, but there is no complete consensus and agreement on the nature and scope of the national project. The most dangerous thing is that there is no Palestinian political document that enjoys a Palestinian national consensus that constitutes a reference, whether the PLO Charter, the Declaration of Independence, the Hamas Charter, or even the Palestinian Basic Law, the "interim constitution", which has led the factions to disagree on the nature of constants and goals, but rather And on the ways and means to reach the goals and achieve the national project.
The only opportunity in this absurd scene that we live in is for the Palestinian factions, along with the national personalities, academics, civil society institutions, and the private sector, with the tools and will they possess to rebuild the national project on the basis of national partnership, and this requires a practical initiative to present a comprehensive national vision. It is true that Every Palestinian faction has a system or a charter that regulates its internal life, but the absence of a national political document on which all Palestinians agree means that everyone will remain in a state of wandering and uncertainty, and walking towards the unknown. All liberation movements were based on a document, a program, or even a statement. in its struggle against colonialism. As for the current Palestinian situation, it is a unique one that requires everyone to agree on a national consensus program to get rid of the occupation.
Today, more than ever, we need to strengthen national unity on the basis of full political partnership. This requires, at the outset, holding a national rescue conference in which all Palestinian political and societal forces, all sectors and groups, including youth, women, people with disabilities, and civil society institutions, especially universities, participate. Professional and labor unions, the private sector, youth movements, the cultural and media field, and constitutional experts, taking into account the representation of Palestinians in all their places of residence, to come out with a unified national strategy that defines the features of the stage of national salvation, the process of liberation, coupled with the process of democratic transformation, in addition to laying the foundations and foundations for state institutions. Political, economic, social, cultural, security and military after liberation, the identity of the state and its political system, and agreement on the principles and foundations of the social contract that we want within the framework of the civil character.
One of the most important outputs of the National Salvation Conference is ending division, restoring national unity, agreeing on a national program, and rebuilding the institutions and frameworks of the Palestine Liberation Organization on unitary bases. Emancipation from the occupation, as for the second step, it is the agreement on the political program and the political partnership of the various Palestinian forces and factions, through a national strategy agreed upon by all Palestinians, and strengthening the steadfastness of the Palestinian citizens in the various Palestinian territories, especially in the villages and communities adjacent to the settlements and the apartheid wall. The third step is building and accumulating the steadfastness of the resistance factions and their presence in the field.
As for the second way out of the National Salvation Conference, it is the dissolution of all political, economic and security agreements with the occupying state. The signing of the "Oslo" agreement led to the destruction of Arab interdependence and coordination, and it also opened the way for unilateral bilateral solutions and unleashed the process of normalization between Israel and many Arab countries and made it possible The possibility of bypassing the Palestinians and their interests in bilateral agreements, as the official Arab question has become: What is the impediment to normalization, as long as the owners of the issue themselves went to settlement? This negative impact of the Oslo Accords on the official Arab mentality and the burden it removed from the shoulders of the regimes upon normalization had a catastrophic result by all standards. This led to a deepening of the state of rupture in the Arab ranks. On the Israeli level, the "Oslo" agreement formed the basic foundation for building a Middle Eastern regional system in which Israel plays the role of the major regional power dominating the region. As for the Palestinians, the agreement did not succeed in meeting the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people. Rather, it led to more deterioration in more than one field. The agreement resulted in the dissipation of the unity of the Palestinian people. Rather, the agreements signed with the occupying state granted it more mechanisms of colonial control over the keys to the Palestinian economic policies, commercial, financial, monetary and labor, which deprived the Palestinian economy of growth and development, and kept it restricted and dependent on the Israeli economy. Rather, the agreements prolong the life of the occupation, which deprives the Palestinians of The right to self-determination, in the absence of a political will to liberate themselves from this agreement.
As for the third way out, it is to hand over the keys of power to the United Nations and withdraw recognition from the occupying state, so that the international community then realizes that the Palestinians are not agents for anyone, and that they will not continue to exempt the international community from its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people based on international law and United Nations resolutions. There is a turning back on the part of the United States and the international community for the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on its national soil.
Today we are at a crossroads, and our national cause and national project are at stake, rather in the wind, an impotent political leadership, a paralyzed PLO, bad internal Palestinian conditions, and a systematic Israeli policy based on confiscation, settlement, Judaization, siege, massacres, killings, and arrests, a war on people And trees and stones, in light of suspicious international silence. Very simply, time is not in our favour, drawing lessons and lessons and rebuilding the Palestinian national project as a liberation project that faces a colonial reality through a national rescue conference in which everyone participates. The national liberation battle needs a broad national front and a consensual program that everyone adheres to.
The Palestinian factions, but all Palestinians today are facing a historical responsibility to restore respect for the national cause, and to take the initiative and initiative, as it is not enough to criticize or hold others accountable, and everyone is required to present visions and practical alternatives, so the presence of the factions, civil society institutions, higher education institutions, and the private sector , youth movements, professional and labor unions, intellectuals, ... etc. in the national scene and its mass reach, its societal acceptance, its military and political strength, and its Arab, regional and international relations allow it to lead the scene and its leadership, and to rebuild and revive the national project on the basis of struggle and politics, taking into account regional changes And the international community, with a new discourse, based on the resolutions of international legitimacy, the right of peoples to self-determination, and the historical presence of the Palestinian people on their land without interruption. And on the strength and presence of resistance, and the use of power cards at appropriate times, and steadfastness in the face of pressure, and defining the camp of enemies and friends. All of them are sufficient to achieve the national goals and deliverance from the occupation. Returning to the slogan of liberation during the next stage, and not the slogan of establishing the state, the ceiling of liberation is much higher than the ceiling of the state.