In his weekly Canadian Jewish News media analysis column "According to Reports," Paul Michaels, CIC Director of Communications, quotes Mideast analyst Jim Lederman on seldom reported problems within the Palestinian Authority leadership.
In the July 29 CJN, this column presented Mideast analyst Jim Lederman's reflections about what the foreign media overwhelmingly fail to cover in their reports from Israel – namely, newsworthy stories about the thoughts and actions of the majority of Israelis.
Lederman also reflected about what the media fail to report about Palestinian society and governance. Space then did not allow the inclusion of those comments. But with attention now turning to the possibility that direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority could resume, it's timely to turn to his remarks.
Lederman began by pointing out a tremendously important development that most foreign correspondents (and many Israeli journalists too) failed to report about: PA President Mahmoud Abbas' decision in June to "indefinitely postpone" municipal elections in the West Bank, which were scheduled to be held in July.
Why was this story important? According to Lederman "Last October, Hamas vetoed the very idea of new elections in Gaza. It not only feared competition from Fatah, it also needed to shut down all political debate. Although Hamas initially gained its legitimacy through elections, it could just as easily lose its right to rule if it fought an election after all the suffering Gazans have endured under its rule.
"Despite Hamas' opposition to elections of any sort, Mahmoud Abbas hoped he could still use municipal elections in the West Bank to show that Fatah had remained the primary political force amongst Palestinians. A resounding Fatah victory, or even a small majority in municipal elections, could have given Abbas the opportunity to claim that he has the legitimacy he needs to compromise with Israel.
"And so Abbas declared that municipal elections would be held, as scheduled, in the West Bank in late July. But on June 10, only an hour before the time for the submission of party electoral lists was set to expire, he cancelled those elections.
"The reason was simple. Fatah had been unable to get its act together. The party couldn't come up with a single list of candidates, so its vote was in danger of being split again, as it had during the previous general elections that Hamas had won by achieving a plurality. But intra-Fatah disorder was not [Abbas'] only problem. He couldn't even craft a viable party platform.
"In short, Fatah is in dire straits. It behaves as though it has learned little or nothing from its electoral defeat in 2006. [Abbas'] throne has no legs. He cannot even count on the backing of his erstwhile supporters. That is why he has turned over much if not all the diplomatic decision-making to the so-called monitoring committee of the Arab League. To his dismay, however, he found that not only did the committee approve the idea of direct talks with Israel (which Abbas opposes), the committee did so after bowing to intense pressure from the Americans and the EU.
"The crucial question that needs to be asked is the following: if Abbas cannot legitimize his own rule through elections, how will he be able to legitimize any concessions he may have to make as part of the negotiations with Israel? Not only that, he cannot even pretend to be presenting a common Palestinian front. As each day passes, Hamas' theocratic dictatorship in Gaza, which opposes any concessions to Israel – including, foremost, recognition – is becoming ever more entrenched."
Lederman admitted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has his own constraints. "However, he does have vehicles such as a vote of confidence in the Knesset or even new general elections to legitimize any concessions he may feel required to make."
Lederman concluded: "Given all the divisions within the Palestinian camp and their incapacity to overcome those divisions, the greatest problem that American mediators face is not how to extract further concessions from Israel, but rather how to legitimize any of the concessions that the Palestinian leadership will have to make as part of a peace deal."
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