Yes to Elections, the Question is How and What is the Objective?

There is no responsibility more challenging than leading a people who are simultaneously facing a genocidal war, a settlement occupation, an enduring internal division, and an unprecedented decline in the status of its national institutions and the trust of its people in them. In such critical historical moments, the challenge is no longer merely about managing authority or containing a crisis; the deeper question becomes: how can society be preserved and the national project be rebuilt to enable the protection of the Palestinian individual, embody their will, and safeguard their future.

This proposition does not claim to hold definitive answers or ready-made solutions, but seeks to open and contribute to a serious national dialogue around a series of ideas that deserve to be presented at the highest political level, specifically at the president's table, with the participation of various political and social forces, at a moment when the Palestinian cause faces the most dangerous attempts at fragmentation and liquidation.

From Crisis Management to Legitimacy Building

The current Palestinian moment cannot be reduced to a government crisis, administrative fault, or political performance decline; the issue, at its core, pertains to the very structure of the political system itself and its ability to represent the Palestinian people and safeguard their national project, amidst an unprecedented power imbalance that is being reshaped to threaten the essence of the Palestinian cause.

The crisis has transformed from an emergency state into a prolonged structure of incapacity, where adapting to weakness becomes a substitute for overcoming it, and managing decline becomes an alternative to changing it. Here, the danger lies not only in the reality but in the patterns of thinking that reproduce it.

This proposition does not rest on illusions of quick solutions; change is not produced by desires but by a precise reading of power balances and effective utilization of possible options. However, realism should not become an excuse for incapacity or a cover for the absence of initiative.

From here, national honesty becomes a necessity, starting with the acknowledgment that the Palestinian Authority, under occupation, does not possess the tools to protect its people. However, this acknowledgment does not lead to surrender but to a redefinition of the essence of national responsibility, to entrench it in the ability to organize resilience, preserve society, and ensure its political continuity.

Restoring Legitimacy and Organizing the Transitional Phase

This moment calls for re-centering the issue of legitimacy within Palestinian political thinking. The absence of renewed popular mandate renders any rebuilding process limited in its impact. Hence, the long-awaited presidential elections, which have been pending for over two decades, represent a constitutional and moral entitlement and a starting point for re-establishment. Certainly, they are less complicated logistically, especially in the Gaza Strip, for reasons well known to all.

However, elections alone, despite their necessity, are not sufficient; a national consensus must delineate the framework for the transitional phase, ensuring partnership and preventing the monopolization of decision-making. The mandate grants legitimacy, which consensus provides for its political and executive framework.

In light of that, the need for a non-factional transitional consensus government emerges, based on efficiency and integrity, tasked with unifying institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, addressing the humanitarian catastrophe, and the risk of displacement that remains on the priority agenda of the Tel Aviv government, and enhancing the resilience of people in the West Bank, especially in occupied Jerusalem and the areas threatened with annexation and uprooting, while creating conditions for rebuilding the political system.

Towards a Founding National Conference and a New Social Contract

Rebuilding the Palestinian political system cannot occur without a comprehensive foundational process that redefines the relationship between the people and their institutions. Thus, there is a pressing need for a broad founding national conference representing Palestinians both inside and in the diaspora, as a moment of re-establishment, not merely an additional political station, so that representatives from various components of the Palestinian people in the West Bank including Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, and the diaspora, alongside women, youth, released prisoners, popular committees of refugees, academics, unions, civil society institutions, professional and economic sectors, and leaders of social movements, participate, reflecting the vibrant diversity of Palestinian society.

The conference does not aim merely to issue a statement but to draft a foundational document responding to major questions: What is the role of the authority under occupation? How is the relationship between the authority and the PLO to be redefined? What is the position of resistance in the national project such that it remains part of a national strategy without an alternative? How is a democratic system to be built that ensures the peaceful transfer of power, protects rights and freedoms, and prevents monopolization of decision-making?

These questions are not theoretical; they are part of the liberation struggle itself, as the legitimacy of the struggle cannot be separated from the legitimacy of the political system being shaped in its context.

From this standpoint, it becomes possible to articulate a new Palestinian social contract based on the principle that the people are the source of legitimacy, that institutions derive their legitimacy from their free will, that authority is subject to accountability and turnover, and that national unity does not mean the abolishment of plurality but organizing it within a unifying framework.

A Gradual Path to Rebuilding the Political System

This vision should not be postponed until ideal conditions are met, as this often becomes an excuse for the continuation of existing realities. Therefore, the gradual path to rebuilding legitimacy becomes a practical necessity for parliamentary elections for the Legislative Council, leading to the reformation of the Palestinian National Council on foundations of comprehensive representation that leads to a new executive leadership for the PLO.

Thus, elections would not be separate stations, but rather a cumulative path that gradually rebuilds the political system step by step, provided that the transitional phase is one of establishment and not crisis management or its reproduction.

Redefining the Relationship with the Occupation

Rebuilding the political system is incomplete without a thorough review of the nature of the relationship with the Israeli occupation, as it is the framework that determines the limits of Palestinian political action. This relationship has transformed into a part of the control structure, necessitating a reevaluation: does it enhance the resilience of the Palestinian people or contribute to managing the occupation and reducing its costs?

Thus, any national project that does not reconsider its tools in confronting the occupation remains a project of limited efficacy, regardless of its internal coherence.

From Mandate to Re-establishment

Legitimacy is not derived from the continuity of institutions, but from the renewal of popular will. Thus, presidential elections represent an entry point for re-establishment, but do not grant the right to monopolize decision-making, as rebuilding the political system exceeds the capacity of any single party.

This vision is based on blending a renewed popular mandate that grants legitimacy, with a comprehensive national consensus that defines how it is exercised and protects it from monopolization.

This vision does not provide a closed program but rather open ideas contributing to a national dialogue that can no longer be postponed, necessitating the widest possible participation from public opinion. If the Palestinian cause faces the most dangerous attempts at fragmentation and liquidation, it is essential to raise these perspectives and others within the framework of a comprehensive, serious, and responsible national dialogue to prepare for a future that is not based on preserving positions, but rather on safeguarding the national destiny.