The Central Council Leaves the Door Ajar

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Before the Central Council’s meeting, we were wearing a torn garment; now we wear a partially patched one.

Some expected the beginning of a new Palestinian phase as a product of the Council’s meeting and the media fanfare that accompanied it, but what actually happened was the establishment of an extension of the phase that preceded the Council. The Council’s resolutions do not take the Palestinian people out of the phase of division, nor out of the phase of the Palestinian cause’s declining standing.

I read the resolutions of the Central Council of the PLO more than once, in order to precisely grasp the content of the statement, and I found that its wording left the door ajar, without closing it entirely against storms or interventions that might blow through it, keeping matters open to the various interpretations and readings that characterize the Palestinian political arena.

The Council decided to suspend recognition of the Zionist entity until the entity recognizes the State of Palestine, retreats from annexing Jerusalem, and halts settlement construction — but the Council did not withdraw its recognition of the entity in a decisive manner. What does this mean in the global political dictionary? It means that we recognize the entity, and our recognition is left dangling on a rope in the corridors of global diplomacy. Note that the question of recognizing the entity was the strongest card we held before the world, and we threw it into the trash for nothing at Oslo. This is unacceptable, and this matter is supposed to be tied to the restoration of the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people.

The Council’s decisions were clear regarding security coordination, and we shall see how the Authority will actually stop this coordination. This decision means the necessity of releasing Palestinian detainees held for political reasons under the guise of violating the Authority’s laws, and means returning charitable associations and community institutions to their owners, especially those affiliated with the Hamas movement.

The Council’s decisions are still searching for a way to continue negotiations with the entity. The Council has still not become convinced that negotiations with the Zionists are futile, and they cannot be otherwise in the absence of elements of Palestinian strength.

The Council did not give priority to rebuilding Palestinian society, a priority that supersedes all others, in that social cohesion, resilience, a spirit of collective work, mutual cooperation, and mutual trust among people constitute the strong building block for accumulating the people’s strength.

The transitional period ended long ago — so does the Council’s decision mean it will end all its civil ties with the Zionist entity, and abolish the office of the American security coordinator between the Authority and the entity?

The Council did not annul the Paris Economic Protocol, which caused great harm to Palestinian producers. The Council only called for disengagement from the Paris Economic Protocol, without clarifying what this disengagement actually means.

The Council renewed its approval of the Beirut Arab Initiative, which opened the doors wide for Arab regimes to normalize relations with the Zionists — indeed, to ally with them, as we see now. The Beirut Initiative is not valid and should be flatly rejected.

There is a resolution calling on Arabs to cut their relations with America if it moves its embassy to Jerusalem, but the Arabs will not do so.

And there are resolutions related to the international arena and the Islamic arena. Their usefulness is limited, and most states will not respond.

The Council’s resolutions did not rise to the level of national responsibility, and do not meet expectations. The Council spoke of popular resistance, but did not tell us what popular resistance means, and did not clarify to people the activities required within this resistance.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “المركزي يوارب الباب” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.