The Palestinian living these days is apparently closing a chapter in its hollow history, waiting for a new chapter with a darker destination. I am not sure if everything that is happening on media level in Palestine, in which it is contributed through official statement is just for the sake of busying the people with issues of less importance in order to keep them away from the more serious issues. It has been part of the Palestinian official versus population game in the last years what is called the “change of the government” in which made the nation busy in discussing who is coming, who is leaving, who may be fitting within the new nomination. We forgot that governments are consequences of elections, and becoming a minister became the aspiration of the nation. Or lets say, it became the ambition of the ambitious of the nation. Apparently, the president’s consultants advised him that this game no longer feeds its purposes and the people need something bigger than a prime minister and his ministers. It is time to make the President game. The president seemed to be happy with this new no-risk game he himself is taking, despite the fact that he is someone who gave us the impression for the last decade that he is ready to leave at any given moment, since ruling under such circumstances didn’t appeal to him. Which is of course right. Who wants to be a manager to an authority that works mainly as civil administration and practically safeguards the enemy zone? He must have given up on israle long time ago, and he along others realized that there is nothing left for a Palestinian cause except what each grasps in his own hands. So family comes first. So he decided to play the game of resignation, and the preparation of the guess checklist of the future Palestinian leader in what from outside they keep telling us, it is we the people who will choose.
The topic of elections is no longer an issue to be mentioned. All the temporarily situations have become destiny for our existence. And in this case, it is not death that will end a person’s dominance, but it is what seems like a preparation for a safe exit phase.
Whatever it is seems also not the issue any more. We are living in this state of being degraded by the leadership to a level where no official statement is made, and when made, it is confusing and comes out with different statements and from different sides.
So the president resigned from the PLO executive committee as the chairman. The president is also the chairperson of Fateh, as well as the PA. So naturally resigning form one position shouldn’t really effect his other positions gravely. But not this one, and not for this kind of resignation. The president seems to be preparing the next phase of the Palestinian exodus in what I just mentioned as safe exit, through securing a PLO membership of his men and followers, and according to some news introducing one of his sons in major ranks. After all, the PLO is what determines everything else. His resignation came as part of an apparent “encouraging “ to other members in the form of showing confidence in convincing them to resign, “ see I resigned, so you can do it too”. This resignation along with other PLO members came as a move to ask for an emergency National Council meeting. In this meeting Abu Mazen wants to introduce new faces and remove all those whom he doesn’t approve of. The trouble of this move has been analyzed by every singly Palestinian intellectual and has been understood by all levels of the society. The breach in the law in this is so obvious that nobody could have missed it.
This is not the issue actually.
The question that keeps roaming is, what if he really resigns and insists. This is also not a question that needs a lot of contemplation. Most believe that he will do this and then massive rallies will go to the street to ask him to stay and then he will feel obligated and committed and remain. In all cases he is trying to secure something for a future move that nobody news except him apparently, but what we definitely understand is that this move includes excluding his opponents and bringing his trusted supporters.
What hovers my head is the question of why do we want him to stay, or leave, especially by a consensus in our realization that no man is there to serve as substitute to abu Mazen. One can say that abu Mazen himself was unpopular (he still is) before his elections. I personally didn’t know him during Arafat’s time. So a new man can be brushed into the suit of a president anyway. The problem is, that the strong people of Fateh, and the less strong ones in the revolutionary commission of Fateh believe that they are the future leaders and they well deserve. There has been a category of being worthy of high positions, aside from being part of this Fateh elite, you have to have served in prisons, in you are from the “returning” sector you are more eligible, if you have a martyr in the family your chances increase. And of course this is decorated by high degrees that are so easy to achieve, by considering that we are a brilliant super intelligent nation.
Even to someone who might be as critical as I am, the presence of abu Mazen gives me some security zone. We managed to become part of this buffer zone of a living where we are haunted by fear that surrounds us from two directions. The fear of destruction caused by occupation. After all the destruction that occurred in Gaza a year ago is still present and a living experiment of what could happen. These tremendous investments in buildings and businesses serve as safety zones from allowing any disturbance or provocation that can bring Israeli forces in. the other fear is the fear of islamization that brings to minds radicalism and Da’esh. This fear is accompanied by a chance of having Hamas take over.
At the end, one of those parties will win upon elections, or upon a coup. So a regular person who is caged in the fear of these two ideas: destruction of war and extermination by fanatic extremism in Da’esh model. After all, Da’esh is also another living experiment to how suffering and destruction is taking place in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere.
So the Palestinian, who is haunted with such real fears prefers to keep abu Mazen despite his corrupt decayed system, and as a result everyone tries to benefit from this corruption in his own way, with some aspirations of breathing that the Israeli occupation may allow in giving permits and some benefits that may reach the population in times such as feasts.