In The Guardian, Karma Nabulsi (pictured) argues that the PLO, not the Palestinian Authority, is “the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” and that Israeli “coercion” for new elections should be resisted:
Mahmoud Abbas declared yesterday: “Let the people decide for themselves what they want.” But there already is a national consensus: there must be Palestinian elections, not for a president of the Palestinian Authority, or for members of its legislative council, but for the Palestinian National Council, the institutional body that forms the sovereign base of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people….
What we are witnessing today is the horrific and inevitable outcome of a process of deliberate coercion, designed to force an occupied people to surrender their elected representatives. That this coercion is being carried out by the military occupier Israel and its neocon backers in the US administration is to be expected – and resisted.
The former PLO representative-turned Oxford wonk should know better. We said it in March and we’ll say it again:
1. Abbas’ primary task as required by the road map was to dismantle the infrastructure of terror. Instead, Abbas asked Hamas to form a government.
2. The PLO isn’t the “sole representative” of the Palestinian people. The overwhelming number of Palestinians voted for Hamas — which never joined the more secular PLO. Even during the pre-Oslo years, the Tunisia-based PLO nearly faded into obscurity while Israel dealt with local Palestinians on the ground.
3. Mahmoud Abbas’ legitimacy stems from his position as popularly elected President of the Palestinian Authority. He was only chosen as PLO chairman by cadres of the member organizations after Yasser Arafat died. The Palestinians need democracy, and they also need to live with the consequences of their choice of votes. The PA is the democratic and legitimate representative of the Palestinians, who have elected Hamas — warts and all.
