Continuing in disarray, the Palestinian arena appears locked between warring factions, delayed elections and a moribund peace process with Israel, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah Having discovered -- rather belatedly -- the futility of open- ended peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership is contemplating taking a number of unspecified measures to "safeguard vital Palestinian national interests". These measures could include dismantling the PA, a unilateral declaration of statehood, and halting security coordination with Israel. Last week, the Independent Elections Committee announced that elections in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem couldn't be held on 24 January, the date designated by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The committee, headed by two university professors, justified its recommendations by citing the "exceptional circumstances" in the Gaza Strip and also Israel's refusal to allow elections to take place in East Jerusalem. Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, refused to receive the committee in its official capacity, arguing that holding elections in the occupied territories in the absence of national reconciliation would be a recipe for disaster. Other Palestinian factions have also voiced their reservations about holding elections on the designated date on the grounds that such elections would divert Palestinian attention away from "real challenges", namely the continued Israeli occupation and the struggle for independence and statehood. It is also likely that the Election Committee's negative decision may have been influenced by the PA president's announcement earlier in November that he would not seek another term in office due to mounting disenchantment with the stalled peace process and the Obama administration's failure to pressure Israel into halting settlement expansion let alone ending the 42-year-old occupation of Palestinian territories. Some observers argue that Abbas's decision not to seek a second term as president has significantly reduced the relevance of the elections. Fatah, which has been urging Abbas to reconsider his decision, has not chosen -- and is unlikely to choose -- a successor to Abbas, given the deepening crisis facing the PA as a result of the collapsing peace process with Israel and also Hamas's adamant attitude with regard to elections. Abbas has not yet indicated if he would still order elections to be organised in the West Bank on the designated date of 24 January, or postpone elections until more favourable circumstances emerge. Some Fatah leaders, such as Mohamed Dahlan, said his group had a "bank of ideas" on how to deal with the current crisis. Some of these ideas would have the people of the Gaza Strip take part in elections by way of casting votes by phone or by electronic mail. It is clear that such ideas are impractical and reflect Fatah's frustration with Hamas. Hamas has indicated that if it is pushed to the corner it could take a number of counter-measures, such as organising its own elections in the Gaza Strip or perhaps creating an alternative Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in cooperation with Diaspora Palestinians. There are widespread feeling in the occupied territories that the elections issue no longer tops Palestinian concerns amid talk that the PLO might resort to dismantling the PA and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Earlier this week, the head of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), Salim Zaanoun, said the Central Committee of the PLO, the organisation's highest-ranking decision-making body, would hold an important meeting in the middle of December in order to take "decisive decisions" to protect "Palestinian legitimacy" and "the Palestinian political polity" in light of Hamas's refusal to allow elections to take place in the Gaza Strip. Zaanoun said the PLO Central Committee would become "the legislature" in lieu of the "tentative legislative council". He argued that the Central Committee was the body that created the PA during a meeting in Tunis in 1994 and that the PA was the legitimate son of the PLO. Aziz Duweik, speaker of the PLC, denounced Zaanoun's remarks as "representing a coup against democracy". "I think what he said was illegal and incorrect. The Legislative Council is its own master and no one can abolish it and replace it by any other body." Duweik added that, "an unelected body can't overrule and replace an elected body." Other Hamas leaders accused the Fatah leadership of employing every conceivable trick to weaken Hamas, with Ahmed Bahr, deputy speaker of the PLC, describing Fatah's efforts to snatch the council from Hamas's hands as "a form of piracy". Hamas won a landslide victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections. However, Fatah, embittered by its loss, continued to plot against Hamas in the hope of recovering its erstwhile predominance in the Palestinian arena. The showdown between Fatah and Hamas is likely to continue. Hamas has scoffed at PA plans to declare statehood, arguing that a statehood declaration had already been made in Algiers more than 20 years ago and that another declaration would not be taken seriously by the international community. Moreover, Hamas argues that "a state in the air", or one "on paper", wouldn't do the Palestinians and their just cause any good and that liberation from the Israeli occupation has to precede statehood. Most observers in occupied Palestine agree that the latest PA-PLO threats to declare statehood are more an expression of frustration and disillusionment with a chronically fruitless peace process than a desire to revert to the pre-Oslo Accords era. According to Palestinian columnist Hani Al-Masri, another declaration of statehood while the Palestinian people are still languishing under Israeli occupation wouldn't serve the national cause and might even exacerbate prevailing frustration. "Statehood is the result of ending the occupation. It can't be its cause," Al-Masri said. Nonetheless, a statehood declaration, backed by international support, especially from Western powers, such as the US and EU, and coupled with the restoration of Palestinian national unity, would enable the Palestinians to make a significant leap towards freedom and independence from the Israeli occupation. But initial US and EU reactions to Palestinian plans to unilaterally declare statehood are discouraging -- some say predictably.
