Palestinians in 2020: watching the elections and internationalizing the crimes of the occupation

Mervat Sadiq-Ramallah

In 2020 Palestinians receive heavy files that put them before the general elections and build on international support for the investigation of Israeli war crimes, in parallel with facing the actual Israeli annexation of West Bank lands.

However, two prominent events dominated the political scene in the last months of 2019, the most prominent of which was President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement of his intention to call for general elections in a speech to the United Nations at the end of September, then surprising the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian factions with approval, and awaiting the issuance of a presidential decree The timetable is set for legislative elections, followed by presidential elections next year.

The second event that is at the forefront of Palestinian interest in the new year is the announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, that it is planning to open a formal investigation into war crimes committed in Palestine.

Internationalization
Ayman Youssef, professor of international relations at the American University in Jenin, said, "The importance of the decision of international crimes comes in line with the Palestinian tendency to internationalize their case, after they are convinced that the American mediation in the peace process is not fair, but rather it is considered a partner in the Israeli aggression against them."

But their benefit from the criminal court's conclusion next year will depend, according to Youssef, on the "availability of political will to the importance of going as far as to drag Israeli war criminals into international trials, and willingness to pay the price of that from expected Israeli sanctions."

It also indicates "the necessity of Palestinians arranging their internal situations and creating a national consensus to support this, and putting the resistance in Gaza within a context that avoids the effects of the international criminal decision on it, along with the availability of an Arab and international incubator that supports their international orientation."

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Youssef warns that the next stage "requires the Palestinians to internationalize their issue as an alternative to the bilateral political track with Israel", but he is not certain about the extent and ability of their leadership to do so, especially with regard to boycotting Israeli goods and joining the international boycott movements, with an American approach And a European to criminalize this movement.

With regard to the Palestinian elections, which are awaiting a presidential decree that sets their timetables for the next six months, Youssef believes that the chances of holding these elections "still vary in parity between holding or failing."

He also believes that there is a "state of boredom in the Palestinian street due to the long period since the presidential and legislative elections in 2005 and 2006, and the blockage of the horizon regarding the position of the president if he becomes vacant, which reinforces the need to renew the Palestinian political system and elect a new Legislative Council, but it indicates that the occupation can refuse to hold it In Jerusalem, which will be the greatest obstacle to its success. "

He says, "Israel has repeatedly announced its rejection of any official political activity of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, and has tightened the noose on their institutions, but it may also resort to using the election file as a blackmail point for the Palestinians, the result of which is to allow elections with the participation of a limited number of Jerusalemites."

Fail over
As for the member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Wasel Abu Yousef, he considers that the most prominent thing that the Palestinians committed during the year 2019 is "their complete rejection of any violation of their rights in light of the American administration's attempts to give Israel a green light to allow it to be permissible. ". But at the same time, the Palestinians cross into the new year without ending the divide, which has been a net profit of the occupation.

Abu Youssef tells Al Jazeera Net, "Going to the elections is not only a democratic entitlement, but it constitutes a new approach to overcome the failure to implement reconciliation agreements, and to form an entrance to end the division in the event that pressure to succeed in Jerusalem succeeds, despite the neglect of the occupation to provide the answer about the official request of the authority to conduct it there on Similar to what happened in the 2006 elections. "

"Despite the factional consensus on holding the elections, the need to agree on accepting their results is vital to its success and removing obstacles to it," he added.

In turn, the leader of the Hamas movement, Wasfi Qabba, said, “The increase in cases of human rights violations in 2019, the absence of Palestinian law in the continuation of arrests, political summons, and sometimes torture in prisons, is still a worrying environment and is not ready for fair elections in which everyone participates without security prosecutions.”

Her title, speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, believes that the Palestinians "want a democratic atmosphere in order to be able to elect their representatives", but he does not appear optimistic about holding elections next year because of its expected ban in Jerusalem or circumventing the demand for direct voting inside the city. He said that violating this right would be a reckless disregard for the unity of the Palestinian decision to hold elections inside the city and not in its suburbs, or by choosing representatives for it or allowing the election by electronic vote.

It is believed that the Fatah movement is not ready for the elections because of "contradictions and competition within its leaders." He said, "Fatah is facing the Muhammad Dahlan movement in Gaza, as well as divided currents around President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. The captive leader of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, suggested that he could run for the presidential elections if they take place."

However, a spokesman for the Fatah movement, Osama Al-Qawasmi, considered the upcoming elections in 2020 a "struggle to restore the confidence of the Palestinian public in its leadership through the ballot boxes, provided that it includes Jerusalem."

On the readiness of his movement, Al-Qawasmi stresses in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that Fatah "participated in the elections in the municipalities, unions and universities and committed to its results, and will adhere to the results of any upcoming elections. He denied any splits that affect their participation in the elections, as well as its broad popular base that promotes the election."

Resolve the conflict
Despite Palestinian preoccupation with the election file, Khalil Shaheen, the research official at the Palestinian Policy Center, believes that the most prominent challenge faced by the Palestinians last year is "the transfer of Israeli policy to attempts to resolve the conflict with them by agreement of all the conflicting Israeli parties, and by annexing the lands of the West Bank that planned to be the lands of the Palestinian state" , Which will have the greatest impact on the conflict in the coming year. "

He explains to Al-Jazeera Net that the decision of the Israeli Minister of Security to register the lands of the Palestinians in areas “C” in the Israeli judicial circles “means a new stage in accelerating the process of annexation and backbone management of the recent plans of the International Criminal Court, but the Palestinian policy still ranges its place in facing that, rather than applying The decisions of the National and Central Councils to stop the security and economic relationship with Israel, issues are being raised that move the Palestinian debate into squares that are far from confronting the policies of the occupation.

Shaheen lists linking the elections to an Israeli agreement to hold them in Jerusalem, as well as the Oslo agreement that called for the decisions of the National and Central Councils to be necessary, to indicate "the Palestinian leadership's miscalculation of Israeli policy, and how it behaves with Palestinian files, especially the elections, if it is to be an entry point to end the division." What Israel seeks to consecrate. "

And he warns that considering the elections as an entry point to end the division will transfer the Palestinians, if the factions refuse to respect their results, to the internal confrontation, as happened after the 2006 elections. He stressed that the priority of the Palestinians in the coming stage must focus on reuniting the civil and security institutions in the West Bank and Gaza, And work in advance to end the division and impose the holding of elections in Jerusalem, despite the occupation.

In his view, full Israeli rejection of the elections in Jerusalem should not be recognized, referring to Israeli voices calling for Jerusalemites to be allowed to vote to elect their representatives in power, because Israel seeks to control the land in Jerusalem without responsibility for its residents.

It is expected that the Jerusalemites vote against Benjamin Netanyahu will be used in the upcoming Israeli elections, so the latter refrains from taking a decision on it, but this is not excluded after the elections next March.

Shaheen believes that agreeing on a program that avoids the Gaza Strip an Israeli aggression threatening the occupation, whether by Netanyahu or his rival Bani Gantz, should be a priority, with the Israeli appetite open to receive more political gifts from the contenders in the upcoming US elections, especially from Trump.