Pressure on Israel, If Palestinians Act Instead of React

By Emad Fraitekh

The PLO needs to respond creatively to the current conditions being placed on it to assure Palestinians an active, not reactive, role in the peace process.

There is a saying among Palestinians that "the conflict over Palestine started in Palestine, therefore it must end in Palestine. " The Palestinian people do not think of the PLO as a heavenly gift by the holy angels, ultimately sacred and unchangeable. As a matter of fact, the Palestinians initially had neither the freedom nor the opportunity to shape either the structure or the membership requirements of the PLO. The PLO was established by the Arab leaders in their summit of 1964, and was given a structure similar to that of other established nations, consisting of three major components.

One is a legislative branch, known as the Palestinian National Council (PNC), with 465 members. They represent the Palestinian resistance organizations, Palestinian popular unions and syndicates, and individuals not affiliated formally with the resistance organizations.

An executive branch, known as the PLO Executive Committee, is composed of 15 members who represent the resistance organizations and some independents. Its members have duties similar to those of ministers in other governments.

The PNC also serves in the capacity of a judicial branch, largely because the Palestinians live in territory occupied by Israel or in the diaspora.

The Palestinian armed forces, known as the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), are stationed in the Arab countries according to separate agreements with the host states.

In 1968,the Palestinian resistance organizations, most of which were formed prior to the 1967 war, joined the PLO and overthrew the original, older PLO leaders put in power by the Arab heads of state. The Palestinian leaders involved in that takeover are still in power today. Among them are Yasser Arafat, Farouk Khadoumi, George Habash, and Nayef Hawatmeh. The Arab chiefs of state have never accepted their loss of control over the PLO. Some changed their strategies and, through their own intelligence organizations, organized Palestinian groups which joined the PLO and became part of its decision making process.

Over the last 27 years, the PLO has tried every approach in diplomacy and in military strategy to regain Palestinian political and national rights. Nevertheless, it has failed to achieve its goals, for many reasons.

The PLO has been unable to distinguish its friends from its enemies. Tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians have lost their lives over the years in lunatic wars against Arab countries in order to sustain and defend the PLO's right to an "independent national decision, " or to pay the bloody price for the wrongdoing of others, as in the case of Palestinians in Kuwait.

There have been power struggles inside the PLO, and bloody competition over its leadership and policy direction. Both Palestinian leaders and intellectuals have been assassinated at the hands of the intelligence style Arab controlled groups.

Repeatedly the PLO, along with the Arab states, has failed to come up with the best political or military solution at the right time.

Now the PLO needs to adopt innovative measures to seize control of the moment. For starters, at its next session, the PNC should call upon the resistance organizations to dissolve themselves into political parties with economic, social and cultural agendas, and to voluntarily transfer the personnel and authority of their armed forces to the PLA.

The PNC should recognize the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising in the occupied territories as the temporary government of the state of Palestine, with portfolios to be filled by Palestinians from the diaspora.

Simultaneously, the PNC should dissolve the P60 executive committee and name Chairman Yasser Arafat president in exile of the temporary government of the state of Palestine.

The temporary government would set a date for national elections to elect representatives to a new parliament. The newly formed political parties would supply the candidates, along with independents who wish to run for parliamentary office. Finally, a constitutional committee composed of members chosen from the new parliament would hold a constitutional convention to replace the old PLO National Charter with a new constitution for the state of Palestine, based on democratic principles.

Four major results can be anticipated if Palestinian leaders take these steps. First, the 127 countries that have already recognized the state of Palestine will automatically recognize the temporary government in the occupied territories. Second, the Palestinian people will be represented by a government that better reflects the new political realities. The PLO will no longer be merely an umbrella for several non cohesive groups, but will be replaced by an integrated and effective government.

Thirdly, the Arab controlled intelligence groups which are currently part of the PLO, but have no real support on the ground among the Palestinian masses, would vanish. All of these changes would override any practical argument that the US now has for asking the PLO not to play a full role in the proposed peace conference, because all can be initiated immediately.

It is possible that Israel may seek to crack down on the leadership of the temporary government, and prevent it from holding elections in the occupied territories. If the US allowed Israeli occupiers to suppress the holding of free and democratic elections, the American position would be indefensible. In view of American support for freedom and democracy in other parts of the world, it is reasonable to expect the US to support the Palestinian call for their own free elections.

If, however, Israel and the US fail to respond positively to the PLO's transformation, it will be clearer than ever that it is no longer the Palestinians who "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity," but instead those who still seek to justify denying Palestinians freedom and human rights namely Israel and the United States.

Emad Fraitekh, a freelance journalist from the Israel occupied West Bank who now resides in Washington, DC, has just completed a major study of the intifada based on his personal experience.