Is it easy to conduct Palestinian elections? What is required?

What comes after President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree last Thursday determining Saturday, November 28, as the date for legislative elections? Is this the whole story? And is it really easy to conduct legislative elections at a time when the Palestinian territories are experiencing a state resembling chaos in various directions, primarily legislative chaos, especially since legislative life has been disrupted since the political and geographical split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2007? Since then, the council has not convened, citing the lack of legal completion, until President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decision to officially dissolve the council on December 22, 2018, based on a decision from the Supreme Constitutional Court, calling for new legislative elections, with presidential decrees replacing it.

Elections of any kind are a constitutional right and a fundamental tool for change and renewing legitimacy. However, in the Palestinian case, there are many obstacles, some imposed by the occupying authorities due to the realities of force, and others stemming from Palestinian policy that still bets on an international community that demands change and legitimacy renewal but is unable to pressure the occupying authorities to adhere to relevant agreements, foremost of which is Jerusalem, where the occupying authorities prevent any Palestinian activity and categorically reject any official Palestinian presence in it, especially after the American recognition that came during President Trump's first term in 2017 declaring it the capital of Israel. This was followed by new laws concerning Hebron, where the occupying authorities transferred planning and construction powers from the Hebron municipality to what is called the civil administration, marking the first practical occupation application to end the work of the Hebron Agreement of 1997 and the establishment of a separate settlement municipal entity to manage the affairs of settlers and historical and religious sites, including those surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque, and other settlement steps that cancel the Hebron Protocol that divided the city into two areas: H1, which is under Palestinian control, and H2, which is under Israeli security control. These unilateral measures aim to completely withdraw the Palestinian administrative cover from the remaining areas of the city, accompanied by an Israeli field control over the land, in a race against time by the occupying authorities to annex vast "legitimized" parts through laws passed by the extreme right-wing government of what is called the Knesset, following a complete blockade through humiliating military checkpoints and iron gates, which limited the movement of Palestinians between their cities and villages, negatively affecting various aspects of life and wide-scale arrest campaigns conducted against the Palestinian people, alongside unleashing extremist settlers who carry out various forms of rioting, vandalism, and destruction of Palestinian resources, all accompanied by a crippling financial siege due to the seizure of Palestinian funds.

As for the Gaza Strip, which has been bleeding since October 2023, that is another story, where hundreds of thousands of its residents are now without personal documents, and tens of thousands have been erased from the civil registry after their martyrdom, not to mention the lack of suitable polling places to conduct the electoral process after the destruction of more than 80% of facilities, institutions, and homes!! All of this occurred without any proportional official Palestinian response.

The official Palestinian system is leading the phase from failure to failure and has become unable to meet even the most urgent needs, foremost among them the fragmented salaries of the public sector. It has failed to confront the official Israeli escalation and the settler hordes and also failed to address the high unemployment rates due to the exclusion of Palestinian labor from the Israeli job markets. So is it really easy to conduct transparent and fair elections amidst an extremely difficult and complicated Palestinian situation?

Despite the overwhelming desire of the majority of the Palestinian Arab people to conduct legislative elections that could organize their civil life, which is characterized by chaos that has caused a loss of trust between the base and the leadership, the situation has worsened with the exacerbation of corruption and the policy of exclusion and marginalization practiced by the influential leadership against organizational, national, historical, and professional competencies, replacing them with connections and appointments tailored to the liking of ‘the neck bone,’ not to mention the repeated postponements of elections. It is noteworthy that despite the failure and incapacity, the power brokers still cling to leadership positions without the slightest concern for public affairs, which has widened the gap between the leadership and the people.

If the Palestinian leadership is indeed serious about conducting legislative and parliamentary elections for the State of Palestine, there must be genuine practical steps to ensure the removal of external and internal obstacles, followed by transparency and integrity!! But how?

Externally: it is necessary to start exerting pressure on the international and Arab community that demands elections and legitimacy renewal, yet is still unable to compel the occupying authorities to facilitate the matter and adhere to agreements. Therefore, it is essential to force them to assume their political and moral responsibilities and pressure towards granting Palestinians the full right to conduct elections in Jerusalem according to previous agreements. The leadership must establish a national and diplomatic plan to ensure the participation of Jerusalemites in voting and candidacy within their city, with guarantees against their pursuit or arrest and the removal of any possible Israeli obstacles that may disrupt the electoral process, and work towards canceling all unilateral Israeli measures in Hebron and other parts of the West Bank, granting freedom of movement to Palestinian candidates and communities to exercise their democratic rights, and securing guarantees for elections in the Gaza Strip without any Israeli interventions, in order to provide a suitable environment, accompanied by Palestinian stipulations that elections be conducted in two phases: the first in Jerusalem, Hebron, and the Gaza Strip, under the supervision of the international community and its relevant bodies. If successful and without encountering any obstacles, it would be completed the next day in other parts of the West Bank.

Internally: the initiation of a comprehensive national and popular dialogue that prioritizes the supreme national interest of the Palestinian Arab people over factional and personal interests, supplemented by new national tools that enjoy wide public trust, enhancing the chances of public participation in the electoral process, while ensuring the selection of members with professional and national experience and reputation for good reputation and community work. Without a doubt, this will be the beginning of change, and perhaps will help revive the spirit in the hearts of the people. There is still ample time to prepare well to repair the current fractures, and above all, all segments of the people must put aside disputes and look toward what serves the supreme national interest after agreeing on its definition, and not forget the sensitivity of the phase Palestine is going through and the seriousness of the threats targeting the Palestinian existence and the Palestinian cause as a whole.

Palestinians are living in a state of legal and constitutional vacuum, which may be one of the main reasons for the dire situations surrounding the Palestinian Arab people. Therefore, the time has come to stop the bleeding and return to the people for a new mandate, as elections are not an end in themselves, but rather a fundamental support and urgent necessity to establish a sound governance system that ensures a decent life, even at its minimum, for all segments of society and enhances resilience towards freedom and independence.