The issue of reform of the PLO is one of the most complex and important issues on the Palestinian political agenda. The organization is considered the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, but it currently suffers from an inability to translate that theory into a practical reality that is accepted by all Palestinian factions. Over the past 40 years, the PLO has undergone several political and administrative changes that have left several question marks over its ability to perform its designated duties. Hence all the major factions, including Fatah and Hamas, agree on the importance of restructuring and undertaking serious reform of the organization to save it from the negligence and inertia that has characterized its functioning in recent years.
One of the biggest problems in the PLO s structure is how to resolve the competition for influence and representation by the many Palestinian factions while avoiding unnecessary bureaucratic and administrative bloating or rendering the organization s decision-making capacity impotent. The strict control exercised by the late President Yasser Arafat – imposed partly as a result of his strong personality – led to the impression that the PLO was his private domain or that of his Fatah party. It is partly a result of that state of affairs that the PLO s Oslo solution caused such a deep rift within the organization, pushing already integrated factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine into the opposition.
The establishment of the Palestinian Authority as a result of the Oslo agreement also created a huge crisis for the PLO since the PA effectively stripped the PLO of many of its important functions and caused the latter to sink beneath the political horizon even though it was still the signatory to important agreements. Since 1993, in fact, the role of the PLO has been regressing and its decline is continuing today. Some have gone so far as to say that the PLO is in terminal decline.
When Hamas decided formally to participate in the nation s political life, it focused on reforming the PLO and restructuring its administration and political programs. In the Cairo meeting of 2005 both Hamas and Fatah agreed on the importance of beginning with practical changes. That was reaffirmed again at the Mecca accords and in the National Conciliation document. However, to this moment no serious practical steps toward reform have been taken.
Nevertheless, Hamas believes that the PLO, properly reformed, can play an important and effective role on the political front. The eighth article in the program of the Hamas government of March 2006 spoke about reform of the PLO stating that, the government affirms the agreement between the Palestinian factions in the Cairo dialogue in March 2005 concerning the subject of the PLO, and it emphasizes the importance of moving ahead with the proper measures needed to be taken. More recently, the head of Hamas political office, Khaled Meshaal, has affirmed that Hamas will join the PLO if serious reforms are undertaken.
To this end, Hamas has laid out a number of proposals for reform. These include reconsidering the PLO s political program in a way that will preserve the national constants and guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people. Hamas has stressed the necessity of having all factions participate so the PLO can truly lay claim to being the sole representative of the people. Finally, Hamas has suggested administrative reform to the various bodies of the PLO – the National Council, the Central Council and the Executive Committee. Hamas believes that regular elections, rather than the policy of executive appointments and factional bargaining that has held sway for all these past years, are the best way to choose representatives to those bodies.
The development, reform and re-empowerment of the PLO will be to the benefit of the Palestinian cause. It is a collective responsibility that starts with the many different forces and continues right up through the government and the presidency. No one today can deny the international legitimacy and recognition the PLO has forged for itself in the international arena. Reforming and developing the PLO as the home of all Palestinians and every Palestinian faction is a duty that thus falls to us all.
Ghazi Hamad is an advisor to PM Ismail Haniyeh. Published 2/8/2007 © bitterlemons-international.org
