EVEN THOUGH THE trauma of the last few months of violence has left most Palestinians stunned and shocked, some sections of the Palestinian society are already raising an important issue about the future of the Palestinian Authority. Their questioning of whether or not the representative body of the Palestinian people needs to undergo reform should indeed be addressed and addressed sooner rather than later.
The urgency arises because the struggle for an independent Palestine has not simply been about confronting a brutal occupier. Equally important is the efficiency of the bureaucracy and economic development. Not to be missed is the propaganda war. With their greater resources and reach and generous American backing, the Israelis have too often had the better of the day-to-day battle to win the attention and sympathy of international opinion.
But some friends of Palestine believe that one of the reasons that the Israeli story has received better coverage is that the Palestinian Authority has often appeared to the outside world to be static, unimaginative and has been generally too little known.
This is in part the case because Yasser Arafat has for so long embodied the struggle of the Palestinians for justice. In a war, which is what the Palestinians have been fighting to one degree or another, since 1936, it often seems unwise, if not impossible, to look to pushing a wider political agenda. The Palestinian Authority, (PA) which brought together most of the rival opinions among Palestinians, was designed to administer what were supposed one day to be part of a Palestinian homeland. It had hardly, however, begun to organize itself before it was plunged into chaos by Israeli attacks.
Much of the nascent infrastructure, including the police and legal system, PA offices and health and welfare centers, the Gaza airport and even the PA’s headquarters building at Ramallah has been blown to pieces by Israeli cannon fire, bombs and rockets. Therefore although a few Palestinian leaders had begun to establish a presence with the international media, there was hardly sufficient time to tell the story of the emerging Palestinian state before the Israeli aggression recommenced.
What is needed now is a rapid rebuilding of these physical and administrative infrastructures, to be undertaken in such a way as to demonstrate to world opinion that this is a lion-hearted people, which though struck down viciously, is once again bravely clambering back to its feet.
There is, however, an argument, which to their credit PA sources have immediately said that they are prepared to examine, that the new political and administrative structure should be different from what went before. It should address issues of inefficiency and corruption and should perhaps also look at broadening the leadership base.
But the most important thing is refocusing the Palestinian struggle with the single-minded pursuit of an end to occupation and the emergence of a free and sovereign Palestine. Too much time and energy has been spent on too minute details, sometimes to the point of missing the larger picture. This has to stop.
