Respecting Palestinian Democracy and the way to avoid civil war
Gershon Baskin*
October 17, 2006
Many Palestinians, especially those who voted for Hamas feel that the West has treated them with double standards. The West, in particular the United States demanded from the Palestinians democracy. The Palestinians responded by holding the most democratic elections in the Arab world. I observed those elections and they were exemplary. There is no question any where in the world that the Palestinian elections were free, open, safe and democratic. The problem is that the international community didn’t like the results. Hamas was not supposed to win the elections and when Hamas did, the international community was shocked and refused to recognize the outcome of the Palestinian people’s democratic choice. Since the elections the international community refuses to recognize the new government and has demanded that it fulfill three conditions laid down by the Quartet which the Hamas government does not wish to fulfill.
There are many arguments within Palestinian society regarding the Hamas victory. Many observers and analysts, local and international, claim that the Hamas victory was a technical victory mainly because of the failure of Fatah to organize itself and present one list in the districts. The division of the Fatah votes in the districts, confronting Hamas which presented single lists with the exact number of candidates in each district that can be elected, enabled the large victory of Hamas in the district elections. These analysts claim that the Palestinian people did not vote for the Hamas political platform. A large number of those who supported Hamas were protesting against the failures of Fatah and against corruption. These analysts claim that the Palestinian people were not voting against the recognition of Israel or the desire to return to the peace process.
There is no doubt and no one can argue that Hamas did not win the elections. Hamas can legitimately claim that it has received the confidence of the people. But can Hamas legitimately claim that their political platform of non-recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel has the backing of the people? According to the opinion polls, the answer is no. There is a clear indication in the polls that the majority of Palestinians want to return to negotiations. The majority of Palestinians recognize Israel within the framework of the two state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders. Hamas cannot deny this.
The current conflict between Fatah and Hamas is extremely dangerous, as we have already seen. It is clearly in the interest of all Palestinians to find a peaceful resolution to this conflict. It seems that most Palestinians would like to see a national unity government. That government must reach full agreement on a political platform. But because it seems impossible for each side to simply accept the political platform of the other the solution must be to go back to the people. Conducting new elections would seem like denying the legitimacy of Palestinian democracy, therefore the solution should be a referendum on the political platform.
A referendum should be held in which one simple question is put forward to the Palestinian people. The question could be: Do you support the Arab League peace plan which includes the creation of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders in exchange for full peace with the State of Israel? Or it could be: Do you support the two-state solution whereby a Palestinian state would be created in the 1967 borders including the recognition of the State of Israel? The exact wording of the question is less important than the idea that the Palestinian people would answer whether or not they are willing to meet the international demands put forth by the quartet.
Both Fatah and Hamas would have to obligate themselves to honor the results of the referendum and to act accordingly prior to conducting the referendum. The holding of a referendum cannot be a threat used against the Hamas but rather as an acceptable political tool to resolve what seem to be unsolvable differences at this point. It is worthwhile pointing out that this same tool was used, in agreement in other conflicts in the world, such as in Northern Ireland. The Palestinians would demonstrate a great deal of political maturity and sophistication if they were to adopt this proposal. Without a mechanism such as asking the people for a political mandate, it seems that each side will continue to claim that it alone enjoys the support of the people. This proposal can resolve the dispute while continuing to respect the democratic choice of the people.
Gershon Baskin is the Co-CEO of IPCRI, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. www.ipcri.org