Priority to stop the collapse

Written by: Nihad Abu Ghosh

During the long and continuous years of division, many local, national and Arab initiatives were put forward aimed at ending the division, restoring unity and rearranging the Palestinian internal house. Arab and Palestinian mediators, political forces and factions, civil society institutions, independent personalities, and bodies with a legal status such as prisoners’ bodies have participated in proposing these initiatives, in addition to the mass movements that were formed for this purpose, or whose most important mission was to work to end the division.

Although the goal of ending the division occupied the forefront in most of these initiatives, and it deserves it, because it is the key to solving and dismantling many political and living problems and dilemmas, and because it is the gateway that enables rebuilding the Palestinian political system, reforming and activating institutions leading to adopting a unified national strategy to end the occupation. , and progress on the road to conquest of freedom and national independence.

However, our problems are no longer confined to the political and geographical division, as we are now living in a stage of decline unprecedented in decades, and the danger is now threatening the legitimacy that was sanctified by struggle and sacrifices and the tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded and prisoners, and warns of the fragmentation of the inclusive national identity that we raised from the "ashes of the Nakba", Then dividing the “people” into several population groups, each with its own living concerns that Israel addresses in isolation from the unified national concern, leading to the absence of civil peace and personal security and the spread of a state of chaos and chaos under the auspices of the armed tribal and regional formations.

It is regrettable that all efforts, attempts, and initiatives have not succeeded in ending the division that has been existing and expanding, and is expanding not only in the geographical and institutional space, but also in the field of awareness, culture, and patterns of behavior. The fact of its existence and with its consequences.

The strange thing about our topic is that most of the political forces responsible for the occurrence and continuity of the division talk about the necessity of ending it as a top priority, and they have responded to, appreciated and approved various initiatives, and here we have to stress that whoever bears the responsibility for the division is not only the two major factions, but also, in varying degrees, all the forces, factions and institutions of society. Al-Madani, not because it contributed to its occurrence, but rather because it coexisted with this abnormal reality and was unable to influence it, whether because it brought itself to the point of impotence, or because it preferred safety and joining under the wing of one of the two major factions.

We can talk about many reasons for the continuation of the division, including the interests that were formed and flourished under it, which are material and moral interests, privileges and positions of influence and exclusivity in decision-making, and the temptations to get rid of the burden of partnership. Nor can we ignore the external interference in perpetuating the division, the most prominent and most dangerous of which is the Israeli role, which Netanyahu recognized when he acknowledged that the division represents a strategic interest for Israel. It has been proven that this opinion is not just a passing jurisprudence or a partisan position, but rather the position of all the institutions of the occupying state.

It is difficult to limit the damage caused by the division and present its disastrous results: whether it was on the future of the Palestinian national cause and its status, or on the various aspects of the daily life of millions of Palestinians in the homeland and diaspora, but what we have achieved can be evidenced by the results of US President Joe Biden’s recent visit to the region, which reduced the issue The Palestinian state in some promises, facilities and humanitarian aid, and removed the issue of ending the occupation from the agenda of the state that sponsors the supposed settlement process, after it handed it over to Israel, and a number of countries in the region implicitly agreed to that, that the Palestinian issue is an internal Israeli affair that the occupying state alone manages as a security first and economic matter Second human.

The proposed national initiatives meet on several main factors, the most prominent of which is ending division and resorting to the people through the ballot box, which confirms the centrality of these two demands. However, it can be noted that the last initiative known as the “National Salvation Initiative” put forward by a group of personalities from different directions and stripes stems from the call To stop the collapse, which indicates that ending the division is not a luxury that we choose or avoid, but rather a compulsory way to stop the descent into the abyss. The initiative stems from grasping the common denominators, and puts forward a bold vision in calling for changing the Palestinian political system, not by turning against it, but by sticking to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and involving all existing forces while recognizing the emergence and formation of new forces in Palestinian society that should be involved in the task of rebuilding institutions. National through the comprehensive elections portal.

The problem with most of the initiatives that were put forward previously is that they presented good "texts" and lacked practical mechanisms for translating texts into action on the ground, and thus remained locked up in drawers and publications. The Rescue Initiative proposes a practical mechanism, which is the formation of a temporary transitional body for a period of one year that will supervise the conduct of the elections, and it proposes a realistic formula for the formation of the Palestinian National Council that takes direct elections, and represents the popular federations, diaspora camps, and communities, and it does not deny the right of forces that do not participate in the elections for political reasons and convictions to It is represented, according to an agreed formula, in the reconstituted National Council.

In order for this initiative to turn into an influential practical force, it must be transferred from offices and forums to the street and society, and owned by the real stakeholders in ending the division and rebuilding the political system on a democratic basis, and in a way that contributes to restoring the people’s vitality and their active forces in the struggle for freedom and independence. This initiative must be transferred to youth, associations, trade unions, vocational and women's unions, the masses of refugees in the homeland and the diaspora, and the frameworks of the expatriate communities, and the formation of a state of continuous and growing pressure on all decision-making circles.