Where is the Independent Palestinian National Decision Amidst What is Happening on the Ground?

Since the inception of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian national project, we have heard about the independent Palestinian national decision. Indeed, leader Yasser Arafat, Fatah, and the PLO have fought to maintain the independence of this decision against Arab parties that were sometimes cautious and at times hostile to Palestinian nationalism and the independence of the Palestinian decision. The organization even engaged in battles for this cause. However, with the emergence of Hamas, new challenges to the national decision arose from within the Palestinian situation, as Hamas positioned itself as an alternative to the organization, linking its decision to the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. Additionally, the challenges posed by the occupation, which denies even the existence of the Palestinian people and combats everything that symbolizes Palestinian nationalism, have further weakened the independence of the Palestinian national decision, especially regarding what is occurring on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank.

The transfer of Palestinian leadership to the occupied territories and the security and political commitments imposed on it as per the Oslo Agreement, along with the conditions set by donor countries, have been compounded by Hamas's control over the Gaza Strip and its singular decision-making in the context of the genocide and ethnic cleansing against the entire population, particularly in Gaza. Moreover, Trump's initiative and the formation of an international presidential council, headed by him, to govern Gaza without serious coordination with the PLO and its leadership—especially regarding the formation of a technocratic committee to manage the sector under the supervision of the international council—have contributed to the near-total absence concerning the devastation, death, and hunger experienced in the sector. The inability of the legitimate leadership and its authority to do much should not overlook their continued commitment to pay the salaries of thousands of employees in the sector, which has helped alleviate some suffering. Amid all this, we ask: Where is the Palestinian national decision of the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people?