Palestinian Reforms

In the third week of August this year I was encamped in Jerusalem and Ramallah, in occupied West Bank, trying to get an interview with Yasser Arafat. This besides doing rounds of the wall that the Israelis are building in the occupied territories and walking through Israeli Defence Force (IDF)checkpoints with the Arabs instead of driving through on the road meant for holders of foreign passports. I was jabbed twice on the chest with a rifle barrel at the Qalandiya checkpoint, which is just a few kilometres from Jerusalem and had to endure dehumanising queues on several occasions. Of course, for me it was an educational odyssey, the Arabs have to go through Qalandiya day in and day out.

The interview opportunity with Arafat couldn’t materialize in the time frame that I had but it had to do with reasons of a crisis within the Palestinian set-up where the demand for reforms was gathering steam for the last two years with Arafat holding out and procrastinating.

Ironically, with elections looming ahead (the constitution of the Palestinian Authority calls for elections to be held within 60 days), the reform demands, raised by the majority of the elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council when Arafat was still alive, seem better placed to materialize now in his absence.

Says Abbas Zaki, a member of the Central Committee of the Fateh Movement, Arafat’s main political arm, and the person heading the committee that was looking into reforms and which presented to Arafat a 10-point demand charter in mid-August to chew over and implement:

"We are eager to begin a life of institutions. Our committee was formed on July 21 and though we were given one month to work we finished our mission in a week."

The charter of reforms to put in action looked fairly simple:
All the security institutions to have one boss with the chief’s tenure not to exceed four years and with the stipulation that he shouldn’t be owning a private business or have any other post.
To increase the salary of the judges and make the judiciary an idependent institution.
To initiate a work ethic against corruption. All files relating to corruption to be forwarded to the courts to take action. The Palestinian Authority has been rocked by the cement scandal recently where certain Palestinian officials diverted cement from Egypt meant for construction in the settlements to Israeli contractors who used it for building the wall!
The document of reforms issued by the council on May 16, 2002 to be
implemented.
Impose general security and order. Eradicate even appearances of
insecurity in Palestinian land.
President Arafat should ask the council quickly for elections—municipal, parliament and presidential. Announce dates for the same.
The council of ministers to form a committee to record the crimes
being done by the Israelis in the occupied territories with certain zones like Raffa and Jenin being called catastrophic.
President Arafat should sign all laws decided by the council.
All ministers to work according to the law of the land.
To issue a law for a new government to be appointed to carry out the
previous orders.

But in his last grand appearance on August 18, 2004 in the Muqata, Arafat failed to show the statesmanship that was required to acquiesce to the demands, choosing instead to postpone the whole process. This when the whole world was expecting him to announce elections, at least to the legislative council.

The manner also in which Arafat was going soft on people suspected of corruption led to many fingers being raised at him and the coterie surrounding him. Says Khalil Shikaki, director at Policy and Survey Research, an NGO specializing in doing polls in the Palestinian
territories: "President Arafat spoilt his name by surrounding himself with corrupt people. He should have worked to make the Arafat period crystal clear."

In fact, Zaki himself tells an anecdote about Arafat that seems to arch the transition the leader made from his days of early armed struggle to recently, where he was seemedly unmoved by corruption in the Palestinian government: "In between 1968 and 1979 many people joined the Palestinian struggle. Arafat made us implement a simple test of personality traits to judge new comers. We used to put a blanket on the floor of the doorway new recruits were supposed to walk through. If the person put his foot on blanket we would not recruit him even if he had a PHD to his name. If he kept the blanket aside he would qualify. Arafat’s theory was that a blanket is something people used and if the person couldn’t understand that he would never grow to respect or work towards the betterment of his people. Another little test he would have was the way the new recruits would behave when they found out that there wasn’t any water or soap to wash the utensils they just ate in. If they kept the utensils aside without washing or waited for water, which was scarce, to come we wouldn’t touch those people. But if some took the initiative to go and clean the plate with sand or mud we would appoint them immediately. Arafat’s theory was that the liberation movement had few resources and had to utilize it properly and that needed to recruit people who had their heart in the right place."

It’s sad that towards the end the great leader forgot the lessons that he himself taught his many disciples. But his successor might well do to remember them.