Facing the annexation project, on the road to expel the occupation 4

Facing the annexation project, on the road to expel the occupation (4)

Written by Comrade Fahd Sleiman; deputy Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

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In Developing the Political System from within

■ The Palestinian political system has two bodies: the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, founded in May 1964, and The Palestinian Authority, which was established in October 1993, by a decision from the 12th session of the Central Council of the PLO, where was mandated the Executive Committee of the organization to form the Palestinian Authority Council in the interim period of the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinian Authority saw the light in July 1994 and completed its institutions and apparatus in the years that followed, and it is - in principle - one of the main components of the PLO, but in practice, it is ahead of it in turn, its position, and its powers. Hence the paradox with which we coexisted, and we are accustomed to: the Organization that is supposed to be the title of the political system with all its components, including the Palestinian Authority, is not so in practice, what made us speak - automatically - about two bodies that make up our political system: the Organization and the Authority, not about one body is the organization, with all what belongs to it.

In the following, we will present a number of proposals to reformulate the relationship between the Organization and the Authority, in response to developments in them and their institutions, on the one hand; What allows dealing with the political consequences of the transfer of settler colonialism to the annexation stage, on the other hand:

· First - The Palestine Liberation Organization

1- ■ The Palestinian political system, in relation to the PLO, is a parliamentary system according to the basic system. The National Council (the legislative level) elects the Executive Committee (the executive level), and, as a President, the National Fund’s Board of Directors, is elected as a member of the Executive. The executive committee, collectively, elects its president and distributes the tasks and responsibility of the departments to its members. The National Council in its regular session (once a year) looks at the annual report of the Executive Committee, (as separately), the annual report of the National Fund, and the organization's general budget.

2- ■ In the 17th session of the National Assembly (November 1984), and after passing several stages and formulas, the Central Council established its well-known form, composition and jurisdiction, and its powers were defined, to include:

1- Taking decisions and issues presented to it by the Executive Committee within the framework of decisions the National Council.

2- Discussing and approving the executive plans submitted to it by the Executive Committee.

3- Follow-up of the Executive Committee to the decisions of the National council.

4- Reviewing the line of work of the Organization’s departments and submitting the necessary recommendations to that of the Executive Committee, which means practicing control work for the organization’s departments.

By this, the Central Council has transformed into a stable institution of the organization, with the authority of the Presidency of the National Council in its procedural and practical issues, with a regular system of convening, at the rate of one session every 3 months (not applied in work periods of the Central Council), knowing that starting with From its first session in May 1985 to our day, that is, for 35 years, it took place in 30 sessions, the last of which was in August 2018.

■ Although the Central Council has a broad role in decision-making, and in defining policies, where the political statement issued by its meetings has a binding force (as was done with the decisions of the Council at its 27th session, when the matter was decided after a debate), the decisions of the National Council remained a ceiling for it, It does not have powers to modify, disable, or cancel it.

The National Council, at its 23rd session 2018-2018, brought about a fundamental change in the legal status of the Central Council, granting it the powers in cases that require it, without specifying or restricting these cases, which means - from an applied angle - that the Central has the powers of the National Council, which constitutes a shift Important in the Palestinian political system, since it places the central on the national level in the reference and the issue of decision-making.

3- ■ Returning to the establishing (1964), it turns out that the National Council enjoyed a remarkable vitality and played a tangible role in political files and internal issues, until the start of Washington negotiations on its Palestinian-Israeli track at the beginning of 1992, either in its sessions are regularly held, reinforced by the sessions of the Central Council Starting in the year 195, or the importance of decisions and programs issued by him in directing the Palestinian leadership. And if we limit the issue to the frequency of meetings between the beginning of 1964 and the end of 1991 (28 years, which is the half-life of the Organization from the establishment to the present day), we are before the following board:

A) During the first establishment period 1964-1968, the National Assembly held 4 sessions (1964, 65, 66, 68), i.e. one session per year on average.

B) In the period from the second establishment 1969 until the 1982 war, and over a period of 14 years, the National Council held 12 sessions (from the fifth to the fifteenth + extraordinary session that did not carry a number), i.e. an average of one session every year and two months.

C) Between the 16th session of the National Council (Algeria) and the Madrid Peace Conference - 1991, the Council held 5 sessions (the last of which was the 20th session in Algeria), over a period of 9 years, with an average of one session every two years.

During this period 1985-1991, the Central Council held 10 sessions, an average of one session every year and five months.

■ Starting from the Washington negotiations - 1992, through Oslo - 1993, and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority - 1994, and to this day - 2020, i.e. over the second half - 28 years - from the age of the organization, since it was founded (56 years ago), the National Council held 3 Courses, i.e. one session every 9 years and 4 months. Note that the 22nd session was not an ordinary or exceptional session. Rather, it was included in what is called in the organization's statute to name the "Joint Council", which is formed from the membership of the Presidency of the National Council + the Executive Committee + who is able to participate from the members of the National Council. The Joint Council considered filling the vacancies in the executive membership resulting from the death of one third of its members.

During this period (1992-2020) the Central Council held 20 sessions, i.e. at the rate of one session every year and five months, but at an irregular pace, as the 28th session was held after 3 years have passed since its predecessor, while the Central has organized 3 sessions during 7 months of the year 2018. ■

· Second - The Palestinian National Authority

1- ■ The Palestinian political system, with regard to the National Authority, is a mixed parliamentary-presidential system, according to the Basic Law. The Legislative Council is the elected legislative authority, and the Council of Ministers (the government) is the supreme executive and administrative tool that has the responsibility for putting the program approved by the legislature into Execution, with the exception of what the President of the National Authority, elected by the people, has executive powers defined by the Basic Law, the executive and administrative powers are within the competence of the Council of Ministers.

■ In this context, and in confirmation of the formula of the mixed parliamentary-presidential system, we refer - as an example of the mechanism for working this formula - to both topics legislation and government, for their importance:

• In the legislation, there is a reciprocal relationship between the Legislative Council and the President of the PA, but the final word belongs to the Legislative. In this context, the President of the PA issue laws after their approval by the Legislative Council, and he may objects on them, but the Legislative Council approves them by two thirds of its members in the second time. The president may issue decisions that have the power of law in times other than the convening of the assembly, conditioned to be presented to the Legislative Council at the first session held after the issuance of these decisions, and if it was not approved by the Council, it would have no legal power.

• On the issue of government, the PA president chooses the prime minister, assigns him to form the government, and he may dismiss him and accept his resignation, but if the head of the government has failed to obtain the confidence of the Legislative Council, the president of the PA must replace him with another. On the other hand, the head of the government is responsible before the head of the PA for his actions and the actions of his government, but the head of the government and its members are responsible individually and jointly before the Legislative Council, which also has the power to approve the budget, and vote on the final account of the PA's budget ■

· Third - Transferring the Central Council to a Parliament

1- ■ The structure of the PLO is based on two legislative bodies. After the 23rd session of the National Assembly, they are distinguished - practically - with the same powers in decision-making, and in the field of legislation: national + central, they resulted from the first body, but also from the second - if needed - Higher Executive Body: The Executive Committee. In turn, Central Council by taking the decision to establish the National PA, became along with the National Council, constitutes the reference of the PA at its both levels: legislative (Parliament) and executive (presidency of the PA + government).

■ However, this designation, regarding the position of the National Council in the political system, and its role in reviewing, evaluating and drawing policies .., since the Oslo applications began nearly three decades ago, is a theoretical one, which did not apply to two out of three sessions held by the National Council since then, the two sessions did not take place in order to review the general policy, evaluate it and draw the directions of the next stage. Rather, they came to fulfill the commitments previously made, or imposed themselves in reality, and only the National Council has powers to decide on them. This is what literally applies to the 1996--21 session, which convened to ratify the Oslo Accords + amend the National Charter; It also literally applies to the "joint council" convened with a job filling vacancies in the executive membership, without which it loses its legitimacy, and which was later named the 22 session of the National Council.

■ As for the 23rd session, it was distinguished from its predecessors, restoring the traditions of work that prevailed in the National Assembly before the Oslo phase, where the 23rd session gathered between the politician with the important decisions issued by it, especially on the issue of disengagement from Oslo; And the organizational election of the Executive Committee + independent members of the Central Council + Resolution of Concluding the session 23 the sessions of the National Council in its current form, having exceeded his legal term long ago; the Constitutional, by granting the central council the powers of the National, in anticipation of an emergency circumstance that requires taking decisions that exceed the powers of the executive, so it turns out that the appeal to the Central is the solution, if it has the necessary powers. And this is what happened.

2- ■ What mentioned before puts us in front of the following scene: After the Palestinian Authority’s since the 14/6/2007 coup that deactivated the legislative work, was transformed into a presidential system that is managed by decrees, and the center of the political system power was transferred from the mixed parliamentary-presidential system to the presidential institution, which now entails the entire government, in addition to the Executive Committee; In the absence of the National Council, which was "resigned" from its position, it transferred its powers to the Central Council, which has become the only one capable of playing the role of the supreme authority for the executive level represented by the Executive Committee + the government of the PA (after canceling the chapter between the two presidencies of the PA and the government that we suggested earlier).

However, this cannot happen - assuming that there is political will at the level of the decision center - except in parallel with a profound development on the situation of the central, is represented with the adoption of another work system, and the determination of powers that correspond with those belonging to any parliamentary body worthy of this name, in drawing the general political path, in the field of legislation, follow-up, and punishment, if necessary, for the two levels of executive: the executive + the government of the PA.

Transforming the central into a parliament and a supreme authority, in a political system that restores its Parliamentary form and re-activates it, calls for a new formulation of the executive committee role and its formation, as a supreme executive authority responsible before the central (that it takes the place of the National Assembly until further notice) for following up the Palestinian situation with all its issues, and for the OLP with all its institutions, and all its components, including the Palestinian Authority. The transformation of the central into a parliament in terms of the role and powers that it exercises in practice requires restructuring it with a view to comprehensive representation of the Palestinian situation, politically and geographically, with all the development that entails in the work methods and mechanisms.

■ This qualitative shift in the designing the political system, strengthening the powers of its institutions, and raising the level of relations and interaction among them, is based on maintaining the established leadership structure, with its simplification (and simplification is an advantage in this context, and not disadvantage), and shortening the distance between the components of the top of the pyramid, And between the summit and the intermediate levels, and the expansion of the powers of the existing bodies, etc. .. This move will result in the opening of a large workshop, to complete its decisions, which is closer to the rebuild.

It remains to be said, that the proposed proposal is the easiest available to activate the leadership situation, while preserving its unity and cohesion, because otherwise it puts us in front of two possibilities: either to keep things the way they are, with some improvement measures that beware prejudice to the essence of the equation governing the political system, and this is an affirmed recipe to the continuation and acceleration of the corrosion situation in the Palestinian Institution; Or adopting formulas that are not yet studied to the extent required, such as the formation of a "Constituent assembly " for the Palestinian state, or other proposals that the condition has not yet been held to implement it, and they - in all cases - do not provide quick and realistic solutions to an accelerated political developments, which Its disadvantages will be exacerbated upon us, unless we hurry to stop its path, by appropriate organizational constitutional measure.

(To be continued..)

To read previous sections of the article, please click on the links below:

https://group194.net/english/article/66553

https://group194.net/english/article/66586

https://group194.net/english/article/66622