The other day after dinner, a number of us, Palestinian-Americans sat at the table to get feed back from one of our good friends who arrived the same day from Ramallah. Of course the subject of the discussions ranged from the armed skirmishes taking place between Fatah and Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas calls for new elections and of course the ever lingering issue of corruptions and cleaning up the Palestinian Authority and the freezing of the Fatah militias and its warlords.
The discussions were quite frank and open with no reservations and our good friend whom we have known for sometimes was also quite open and very frank and quite objectives in addition to being well informed.
Of course and as always, I spoke my mind and was quite frank in my criticism of both Fatah and Hamas, both of which have narrow interest and do not represent or put forwards what is best for the Palestinians. Hamas, sad to say did not live up to the expectation, even though it was handicapped right out of the gate and did not take advantage of its sweep in the election to offer a good solid alternative to the corrupt and incompetent Fatah. Hamas made the fatal mistake of not coming out with its “peace plan” and in support of the Arab Peace Plan, and instead put itself in the corner by getting directions and instructions from Khalid Mishal who is not elected by any one and who gets his instructions from Damascus, which over the last 40 years did not do the Palestinian people much favors. Hamas behaved as if it continues to run small NGO and is not a government that has to take care of every thing from education to garbage collections to providing public security.
Fatah on the other hand did not and will not change at long as the decisions are in the hands of the old guards who proved they are, not only corrupt but a total failure and as long as the decision is also in the hands of warlords and those who became very rich from racketeering, protection money and selling cement to build the Israeli War.
Between a wall and a hard stone sits President Mahmoud Abbas who was elected on a “Peace Plan” by the overwhelming majority of the people. Even Hamas was elected not because of its ‘war plans” but as an alternative to Fatah and in the absence of any “liberation” plans. I did agree with my friend that the Hamas was elected as a majority in the parliament, but once selected to form the government must be committed to carry out the president program and not its own agenda, letting the parliament decide on major legalisations. I also agreed with my friend, the only way out of this deadlock and impasse is a new presidential and parliamentary elections. The situation on the ground does not stand a Hamas government, that is unable or unwilling to address the daily issues of the people and one that does not advance a peace plan, having tried a ‘war” plans for the last 40 years and it failed. Abbas is right in calling a new election and must not only call for new elections, but must set a date not later than 120 days from the date he submit his resignation and 120 days from dissolving the parliament. The Palestinians people could not stand to have a Hamas government that gets its instructions from Damascus and could not afford a government that does not go along and show strong an unequivocal support for the King Abdallah’ Peace Plan. Equally important in all of this is giving the opportunity to the Palestinians in the Diaspora, who form a “ majority” to have a say so in what is going on and who must have a voice and participate in the decision to move forward with peace. The PLO as an organization no longer serves the purpose and is no longer the right mechanism for the Palestinians. More important, the PLO was never elected by the people and its executives are nothing but old bags whose time has come to retire to the farm and whose executives are at best parasites that serve no good purpose. President Abbas has a once in life opportunity to rise above the partisan level and has a chance to prove that he is the president of all the people and not as head of Fatah. He must prove to the people that he has what it takes in courage, vision, and commitment to peace to take the people out of the mess they are in. He also must take the decision to clean the place up, clean it from all the thugs, warlords, and corruption mafia of his Fatah and must clean and get rid of all of the militias out there and give them alternative and productive job. He also has to get rid of a number of key people around him who are nothing more than incompetent parasites and warlords. His strength is not Fatah men, but the average citizen who is looking for a leader to stand up to the occasion and deliver independence and liberation. Removing some 30 checks points out of 400 is not enough. The people want liberation and an end to the occupation. Let us see if President Abbas live up to the expectation and prove he is the president of all the people. Hamas must accept its failure and agree to go back to the people and not cling to power for the next 3 years. Until the people elect Khalid Mishal he should not make the decisions.

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