The Istanbul Conference for Diaspora Palestinians

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Three conferences related to Palestine were recently held: one in Tehran, devoted to supporting the Jerusalem Intifada; a second in Cairo, hosted by Dahlan and his supporters; and a third — the most important and largest — in Istanbul, focused on examining the Palestinian future. The Palestinian self-rule authority was absent from all three conferences, and its absence may well have been one of the most important reasons these conferences were held in the first place.

Regardless of the motives of those organizing these conferences, there is an urgent Palestinian need to gather and think together, because the Palestinian situation is in a severe crisis, the standing of the Palestinian cause is deteriorating, and the people’s fixed national rights are being subjected to sharp erosion and marginalization. Palestinians, and everyone concerned with Palestinian rights, are required to convene, consult, and search together for gateways out of the Palestinian predicaments and quagmires the Oslo Accords and their appendices have created.

The Istanbul conference was the largest, attended by more than five thousand people from about fifty countries, who deliberated on various Palestinian affairs and held a number of seminars and lectures. A patriotic Palestinian atmosphere prevailed at the conference, characterized by zeal for Palestine and its people, and by deep concern for Palestinian interests and the national rights of the Palestinian people. The attendees’ concern over the decline in the Palestinian cause’s standing at various levels was evident, and were it not for this concern, such a large number would not have come to Istanbul.

It was noted that a consensus prevailed among attendees regarding the ills of the Oslo Accords and the calamities, pains, and predicaments they brought upon the Palestinian people, especially regarding internal divisions, bloody infighting, and security cooperation with the Zionists. Everyone agreed on the necessity of working to escape the current predicaments, and working diligently and earnestly to emerge from Oslo’s dark tunnel, and to restore the authentic national spirit of the Palestinian people.

Attendees differed over the standing of the PLO and its role in ordering Palestinian affairs. The majority was sharply critical of the organization, believing it necessary for the Palestinian people to search for a new banner. These attendees believed the PLO had lost its legitimacy because its councils and institutions failed to abide by the people’s original principles, and because of its violations of its own internal bylaws, considered its organizational laws. For example, the Palestinian National Council is supposed to convene once a year, but long years have passed without it convening.

As for the organization’s Executive Committee, time has taken its toll on it, with no fresh blood renewing its ranks. A minority stood by the PLO, saying it remains the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and that its continuation must be upheld. This minority was not satisfied with the organization’s performance, but believed its existence, even if merely nominal, was better than dispensing with it. And since the attendees were concerned with preserving unity of ranks, the majority accepted the organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Everyone agreed that the PLO needs radical reform to restore life to it. They saw the necessity of holding elections for the Palestinian National Council wherever possible, and the necessity of the participation of the various Palestinian forces in the reorganization and in the various councils, such as the Central Council, the Executive Committee, and other institutions affiliated with the organization.

The conference concluded with a lengthy statement covering many clauses related to various Palestinian affairs. Among the most important of these clauses was the insistence on liberating the entirety of Palestinian soil, and ridding themselves of the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian obligations that resulted from it in favor of the occupation — that is, everyone stopping their support for security coordination, normalization, and the purchase of Israeli goods. But the conference lacked two things: tools of pressure on the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to make them respond to Palestinian demands, and an organizational structure to bear responsibility for implementing the clauses of the closing statement.

A presidential body for the conference ought to have been formed to follow up on the general statement it produced — otherwise, the demands will amount to nothing more than media publicity that neither satisfies hunger nor nourishes. Or an office should have been established in the conference’s name to follow up on Palestinian affairs, stay in touch with everyone who attended the conference, and continue mobilizing Palestinian energies to widen the circle of pressure toward upholding Palestinian rights. The conference ended without defining any tools of pressure on the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

How will the organization and the Authority respond to the conference’s concerns if tangible pressure, not merely verbal pressure, is not exerted on both bodies? The Palestinian people, in their majority, are discontented with the situation prevailing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but all the discontent and outcry raised by the people and associations finds no listening ear, neither from the organization nor from the Authority, both of which are led by a single, dominant individual: Mahmoud Abbas.

What was needed was to define certain political pressures and popular activities at home and abroad in order to bring about the required changes, as well as a serious threat to establish a new banner for the Palestinian people in place of the PLO, which has become an Israeli banner used to substantiate Jewish claims to Palestine. What was also needed was to form a committee to redraft the Palestinian National Charter in a way that takes into account the various developments that have occurred in the Palestinian cause.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “مؤتمر اسطنبول لفلسطينيي الشتات” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.