A Reminder of Law Violations and the Usurping of Authority

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

I remind our Palestinian people of the laws I spoke of before, and for which the self-rule authority arrested me — laws that made the necks of a hypocritical, corrupt chorus of clerics, academics, and writers crane in indignation. I ask this whole misguided, treacherous, irresponsible chorus: can Palestinian national unity ever be achieved without the application of the law? Are we supposed to bypass the law in order to have democracy? These fools are defending the non-application of the law. And I address one particular university president, sunk to his ears in hypocrisy, corruption, lying, and despotism in his office: those who practice hypocrisy cannot be trusted with our students, because all they will bequeath them is hypocrisy and lies.

I spoke of the necessity of applying the revolutionary law of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has been bypassed for many long years, and of the Palestinian Authority’s election law, and of the suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The police arrest those who violate the law, but this practice does not appear to apply to everyone. The PLO’s revolutionary law is in force, alive and well, and the Authority has previously tried certain Fatah members under it on charges of fleeing the battlefield in Gaza. The people who violate this law most flagrantly are the chairman of the Organization, the members of its Executive Committee and its secretary-general, the members of the Central Council, and a large number of members of the National Council whose term has long since expired. We have not seen a single one of them stand before the judiciary to this day.

As for the election law, it too is not respected, and it is violated by the president of the Palestinian Authority and by the members of the Legislative Council, who have not lifted a finger, to this day, to restore Palestinian legitimacy. As for the Legislative Council itself, it remains suspended, and its members have not moved to defend the electoral will of the Palestinian people that brought them to the Council in the first place.

Respectable nations are those that respect what they put in writing and respect their own laws, while wretched, backward nations — nations that insist on remaining backward — are those that do not respect the law, do not care for the will of the people, and do not respect opinion or position; they are the ones that spread corruption and strife, and toy with the moral standards of their people and with social cohesion. It seems we have chosen to hold our own people in contempt. Why do we write laws at all? Simply in order to violate them and seize power by force. We must treat everyone equally, and try anyone who violates the law, for if we apply the laws selectively and according to mood, this will plunge us into social disintegration, disillusionment, and decay. Anyone who violates the law by force and fortifies himself against punishment intends evil for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. There must be no discrimination in the application of the law — before the law, all are equal — but it seems this is a matter the Authority finds impossible to grasp.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “تذكير بانتهاك القوانين واغتصاب السلطة” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.