Palestinian Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement

5. Palestinians in Search of Authoritative Leadership after Arafat

Palestinians in Search of Authoritative Leadership after Arafat Following the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004, the Palestinian political system and leadership faced a difficult choice over the renewal of the leadership, as Arafat had been the spine of that regime over the previous decades. He had been the leader of both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) for a very long time, so his death left a void in the leadership. The difficult choice, however, was not limited to replacing Arafat as chair of the PLO’s Executive Committee, the PNA, or Fateh; the real challenge was to address new developments that might lead to the participation of non-PLO factions, specifically Hamas, in the political scene. This latter group did indeed become more prominent as it enjoyed strong support in the recent Palestinian legislative elections, and thus became part of the Palestinian leadership at different levels, including in the local councils, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and the government. Because the system set in place by Yasser Arafat was more a function of his personality and leadership charisma than of institutional and collective decision making, the political structure of the PNA had to be altered. However, following Arafat’s death, the Palestinian leadership had difficulty making a fast transition in leadership, and electing a new chairman to the PLO and nominating a Fateh candidate for the PNA presidency. In the post-Arafat era, many politicians, academics, and factions tackled the issue of restructuring the Palestinian political system or reforming it on 5 110 / Palestinian Politics after Arafat new foundations better suited to the current context. This reform, they believed, should take into account the PLO and the PNA. Many proposed that the new foundations of the political system should not be based on the quota system, which had long characterized the Palestinian political scene and internal relations , but rather on the ballot box. The new balances of power would result in the formation of new coalitions within the bodies of the PLO, such as the Executive Committee and the Palestinian National Council, as well as within the bodies of the PNA, such as the government and the PLC. The results of the presidential elections, held on January 9, 2005 (in addition to the first, second, and third stages of local elections and the legislative elections held in January 2006), indicated an urgent need for change in the Palestinian leadership, and suggested that the Palestinian arena was witnessing the beginning of significant change and political development. Presidential Elections Seven candidates competed in the Palestinian presidential elections held on January 9, 2005. The most prominent of these candidates were the Fateh candidate , Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), and the Palestinian National Initiative candidate, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, who was backed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Other leftist independent candidates also competed . No candidates stood from the Islamic Jihad or Hamas, which boycotted the elections. Despite the election of Fateh candidate Abu Mazen, the result of the presidential elections, together with those of the local elections which had taken place two weeks earlier, indicated a decline in Fateh’s popularity and attested to a weakening of the movement’s status as a leading movement of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian public and many analysts believe that a simple arithmetic calculation based on a comparison of the percentage of votes with the number of eligible voters demonstrates this decline: Abu Mazen received 62.5% of the votes (501,448 votes). However, he received the support of just 28% of the eligible voters, as only 66% of those eligible to vote according to the electoral register actually participated in the elections. Thus, Abu Mazen received 62.5% of the votes in the absence of a Hamas competitor, which is not a high percentage relative to the total number of eligible voters.1 The Palestinian National Initiative candidate, Mustafa Barghouti, who was backed by the PFLP, received around 20% of the collected votes (156,227 votes). This result raised the possibility of forming an alliance with opposition organizations , which would be capable of creating a balance in the Palestinian arena as Palestinians in Search of Authoritative Leadership after Arafat / 111 a third alternative to Fateh and Hamas. Some liberal leftist leaders who were not strongly affiliated with certain parties were encouraged to give serious consideration to forming a political bloc for the Palestinian...