A Declaration of Concern Over the New Government's Performance

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Months have passed while we waited for the new government to produce programs, ideas, and policies for lifting the internal situation, particularly in the economic and security spheres, but we have sensed nothing so far. We had hoped to see the message of Islam gradually take shape and radiate goodness upon the people, but instead we see practices that do not differ much from the practices of previous governments. We would have welcomed an economic program, however rudimentary, that freed us to some extent from the yoke of Western money, and a security policy that relieved us of the thugs and strongmen who betray God, the homeland, the people, and the nation in broad daylight. We had wished to see an internal administration built on competence rather than factionalism, one that achieved relative justice for a people whose body is being devoured by pain and grief.

The current government has poured the bulk of its attention into two points: entrenching the Hamas movement within the organs of the Authority, and forming a factional government. Beyond that, we see the government as a dead body, with no vision and no movement in it. We are aware of the intensity of the conspiracy and pressure the government faces from Palestinian factions and figures, from Israel, America, and Arab and Western states, but the magnitude of the challenges forms a gateway to the magnitude of creativity.

Our problem today is not a factional government resting on a document of accord riddled with contradiction, but rather the necessity of confronting the internal collapse, particularly the one under way in the Gaza Strip. The government is responsible, and all excuses, including the arrests, are of no avail. And if this situation is allowed to continue, the Palestinian cause will slip out of our hands.

We call on the Palestinian people to side with their future and their fixed national rights, and not to remain mere spectators to a political stage whose actors revolve within their own closed circles. We must stand as brave, dignified defenders of our national rights, and be faithful guardians against injustice and recklessness.

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Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “بمثل حرصنا على مصالح شعبنا وفق اجتهادنا نعبر عن عدم ارتياحنا لما آلت إليه الأمور في فلسطين أخلاقيا واجتماعيا واقتصاديا وأمنيا وثقافيا، وعن خشيتنا من مزيد من التدهور يفقدنا التوازن والقدرة على الإمساك بزمام الأمور. لقد توجهنا إلى صناديق الانتخابات بتطلعات متواضعة على رأسها ضبط الأوضاع الإدارية وملاحقة الفساد والرقي بالمستوى الأخلاقي وتطبيق القانون على الجميع. تركز أملنا في إعادة بناء المجتمع الفلسطيني الذي يعتبر الركيزة الأولى والأقوى نحو استعادة الحقوق الفلسطينية.” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.