Reform under siege

Yasser Arafat is pledging reforms of the Palestinian Authority. But following Israel's military offensive such pledges are meaningless, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem
In a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council marking Al-Nakbah day on 15 May, Yasser Arafat took "personal responsibility" for mistakes made by the Palestinian leadership (particularly the agreement for ending the siege at Bethlehem's Church of Nativity which, in the eyes of many, gave Palestinian sanction to Israel's concept of transfer).
He pledged to "prepare for elections" and promised the leadership would "re-evaluate the performance of the Palestinian Authority at its political, security and administrative levels."
It was the least he could do. Since he was freed from internment in his Ramallah headquarters on 2 May Arafat has faced demands from all sides to reform his government.
Ariel Sharon has made "sweeping reforms of the PA" a new condition for any return to negotiations. The Americans want him to draft a constitution and bring his 12 security forces under some form of unitary command. And Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the European Union want him to bring the Intifada under control and outlaw altogether those who execute "martyrdom" operations against civilians in Israel.
In a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council marking Al-Nakbah day on 15 May, Yasser Arafat took "personal responsibility" for mistakes made by the Palestinian leadership (particularly the agreement for ending the siege at Bethlehem's Church of Nativity which, in the eyes of many, gave Palestinian sanction to Israel's concept of transfer).
He pledged to "prepare for elections" and promised the leadership would "re-evaluate the performance of the Palestinian Authority at its political, security and administrative levels."
It was the least he could do. Since he was freed from internment in his Ramallah headquarters on 2 May Arafat has faced demands from all sides to reform his government.
Ariel Sharon has made "sweeping reforms of the PA" a new condition for any return to negotiations. The Americans want him to draft a constitution and bring his 12 security forces under some form of unitary command. And Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the European Union want him to bring the Intifada under control and outlaw altogether those who execute "martyrdom" operations against civilians in Israel.
But the most insistent cry for change has come from his own people as they survey the wreckage of lives, livelihoods and institutions left in the trail of Israel's recent military offensive in the West Bank.
Whatever the human heroism displayed in arenas like Jenin and Nablus, every Palestinian knows these battles were not victories. They were defeats, which is why so few Palestinians turned out to greet their leader where he toured these trenches on Monday.
From grassroots committees to cabinet ministers the constant call is for new elections at both local and national levels. Some are demanding the establishment of a National Emergency government made up of all factions and governed by principles of accountability and expertise rather than patronage and loyalty.
Rarely has the Palestinian consensus been so wide. Rarely has the pessimism been so deep that anything will come of it, and not simply because Arafat has refused to set a date for the elections he pledged.
Palestinians know from long experience that
Arafat is never more disposed to trumpet "democracy and the rule of law" than when his popularity is plummeting, as it is now. They are also deeply cynical toward those who have suddenly presented themselves as the champions of reform.
In the last month a bitter turf war has erupted between Mohamed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, respective heads of the PA Preventive Security Forces in Gaza and the West Bank. This has precious little to do with empowering the people. It has everything to do with the single security force the US and Israel want set up in the occupied territories, and who will head it.
On Monday five masked men broke the arm and leg of Palestinian minister Hassan Asfour, a Dahlan loyalist. Most Palestinians believe the five were from Fatah and were dispatched by Rajoub. There have been lesser skirmishes between the two forces in Ramallah.
But the main reason for Palestinian hopelessness is that genuine reform is incompatible with the new/old military order Ariel Sharon is setting up in the West Bank and perhaps, soon, in Gaza.
There is now little doubt among Palestinians that Israel's recent re-conquests in the West Bank represent a major victory for Sharon's colonial ambitions and a major defeat for the Palestinians' strategy of armed resistance, particularly the suicide bombings in Israel.
The invasions have allowed Sharon to re- establish Israeli military rule throughout the West Bank, enabling incursions into Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps on a routine basis and a permanent siege everywhere else. In essence the re-occupation has voided the West Bank of its "Area A" havens and returned Palestinians to the direct military occupation that existed prior to Oslo.
In such a truncated landscape calls for reform in the PA are imaginary, which is why Sharon is so zealously embracing them. "It is the same as the seven days of quiet he insisted on as a prelude to negotiations on a cease- fire," says Palestinian analyst Ghassan Khatib. "Sharon now advocates reform because he knows it is a condition that cannot be fulfilled."
Recommend this page
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Send a letter to the Editor