As all the years of the Palestinian people, the year 2022 was a year full of steadfastness, sacrifice and heroism, and at the same time, it was thick with criminality, Zionist terrorism, and international and regional failure.
This year witnessed many developments and events on several levels, as the Palestinian people continued their resistance and struggle despite the unfavorable internal and external environment.
The Palestinian division and fragmentation, and the apparent decline in Arab and Islamic support and support, did not deter the living forces and the Palestinian youth from continuing to challenge the occupation and confront it with determination.
The year 2022 witnessed an unprecedented growth in resistance operations, especially in the West Bank. More than 1,300 shooting, trampling, stabbing and throwing explosives took place this year, in addition to hundreds of activities and popular confrontation operations such as throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, marches and vigils, in addition to a military confrontation that lasted 3 days in the Gaza Strip.
This year, the Palestinian people sacrificed more than 225 martyrs and nearly 10,000 wounded, and 31 dead and 560 wounded in the ranks of the occupation.
Therefore, the steadfastness and struggle of the Palestinian people is not a matter of questioning or review, but the political leadership performance accompanying this popular struggle is the subject of question, and it is the one that does not appear to be consistent, equivalent, or keeping up with the popular performance, so that the scene shows the size and level of division in the Palestinian situation, and shows how The political leadership, and many of its components, are detached from reality and unable to keep pace with it and constructively interact with it.
This brings to mind the historical crisis from which the Palestinian people and their national struggle have suffered and are still suffering. For decades, the gap between popular struggle and resistance on the one hand, and political performance and the ability to invest in this struggle and achieve Palestinian rights on the other hand, has remained large and even frightening. many times.
Close observation of the Palestinian political performance in 2022 can note:
First: Surrender to impotence, and the inability to rebuild and activate the Palestinian political institutions.
Despite the aging, wear and ineffectiveness of these institutions, the year 2022 did not bring any serious attempt to change, and each party remained dependent on what it had of the fragments of the Palestinian political institutions, which left the Palestinians and their national struggle without a significant head or address.
Second: stagnation in place, failure to get out of the internal impasse and end the division, even to a minimum.
Despite Algeria's repeated meetings for the national dialogue, everyone was aware that it was not serious and would not bear fruit, because it was not based on any consensus or mutual understanding, but rather came in the context of political courtesy to an Arab country that still adopts positive positions towards the Palestinian cause.
Third: the continuation of dealing with hasty and sometimes ill-conceived reactions in managing the confrontation with the occupation, and the predominance of emotional behavior and narrow calculations in many cases, an example of which is the military confrontation that took place in August, in which 48 citizens were killed and wounded. More than 360, that confrontation that opened a great debate among the Palestinians about the justifications, feasibility and management.
As well as dealing with the phenomenon of armed groups in the West Bank, such as the Jenin Brigade, the Lions' Den, and other military cases that appeared recently, which, although they showed a great deal of rebellion against the difficult reality in the West Bank, they also revealed the extent of the complexity, conflict, and schism in the national scene.
Fourth: The continued closure of the political horizon and the ambiguity of national projects, and the inability to formulate a consensual national vision or project, especially in light of the lack of opportunity for the two-state solution, the agreed minimum program, as well as the end and failure of the political approach through which the Palestinian parties worked in the territories 48, and the return of the Palestinian diaspora to search for its role in the national movement without a clear and influential crystallization of this role.
The year 2022 passed without the Palestinians being able to agree on a formula for their national program, and the Palestinians remained lost institutions, factions, elites, and popular forces, each proposing a different vision and project for the other.
Fifth: the continued political isolation of the Palestinians, and the decline in official Arab and Islamic support for the Palestinian cause.
Despite Algeria's efforts during the past year, no one showed serious support for the Palestinians, and did not deal with the Palestinian file as a priority file, and the year 2022 was devoid of effective and real diplomatic effort, with the exception of limited stations such as the Arab League meeting or voting in the United Nations General Assembly.
Sixth: The absence of evaluation, review or self-criticism, especially by political and partisan institutions and forces, and this is a scourge that is not limited to this year alone. Except for some individual efforts by thinkers and intellectuals, or historical leaders who critically documented some historical stations, and some aspects of Palestinian work, which makes Palestinians repeat themselves, make the same mistakes, and not benefit from each other's experiences.
Therefore, it was necessary for the annual celebrations due to launch the factions to be accompanied by an annual evaluation of the factional, institutional and national performance.
The Palestinian is still facing an enemy not to be underestimated, who is trying to hold together despite the many factors of weakness and retreat on some levels, and therefore confronting him requires a different Palestinian performance that rises to the level of the challenge posed by this enemy.
In contrast to this Palestinian reality, the year 2022 witnessed a number of developments at the level of the Zionist entity, which can be summarized as follows:
An increase in extremism and a shift towards the right, which led to an increase in the audacity to disavow and deny Palestinian rights, even to a minimum. 1967 borders.
Increasing settlement activity, building settlements, and legalizing outposts, as the number of settlers in the West Bank exceeded 800,000.
And the intensification of the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the prostitution of the Ibrahimi Mosque without regard for the feelings or the positions of Arabs and Muslims.
Continuing to besiege the Gaza Strip, preventing its population from stability and feeling safe, and keeping the Palestinians there in a state of permanent security, economic and social pressure, in light of the constant threat of launching a new bloody aggression against it.
Undermining the material and moral results of the Battle of Saif al-Quds 2021, by restoring the initiative in field action, carrying out qualitative assassinations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, waging a confrontation with Gaza without the interaction of any of the other Palestinian arenas, singling out the Al-Aqsa Mosque, exaggerating its lawlessness, intensifying killing in the West Bank, and assassination In the streets and at checkpoints without any deterrence, and the number of martyrs in the West Bank alone in 2022 reached about 175 martyrs, and more than 9 thousand wounded.
Strengthening the entity's political, security and economic relations with a large number of Arab and Islamic countries, whether through full or partial normalization, as well as the growth of its official relations at the international level and the continuation of international sponsorship for it, even without historical allies, as it enjoys strong relations that may become stronger with Netanyahu's return to power, With the powers that are destined to become a superpower such as China, Russia and India.
The year 2022 reaffirmed the dynamism of political and partisan life in the Zionist entity, despite the internal turmoil and partisan divisions it witnessed, in some aspects it expressed the vitality of the entity’s political and administrative system, where parliamentary elections were held and a majority government was formed, without resorting to any form of violence or internal turmoil.
All of this indicates that the Palestinian is still facing an enemy that is not to be underestimated, trying to hold together despite the many factors of weakness and retreat on some levels, and therefore confronting it requires a different Palestinian performance that rises to the level of the challenge posed by this enemy.
Arranging the Palestinian house, fortifying the home front, reforming Palestinian leadership institutions, crystallizing a vision and program agreed upon, radical change in the structure of the Palestinian leadership, and restoring consideration for Arab and Islamic support are necessary requirements to ensure the integrity of the Palestinian cause, progress towards achieving national rights, and to rise to the level of sacrifices of the Palestinian people.
The situation that prevailed today, which prevailed for many previous years, should not continue, because it poses, in light of its intersection with the conditions at the level of the occupying state and the regional and international situations, a real danger to the Palestinian cause and its future.
Some may wish to put this reading within the framework of self-flagellation or a pessimistic outlook, and this is what we are accustomed to in order to justify the decline and inability in the national performance, especially the leadership, despite our realization that what was mentioned above does not mean that all that the Palestinian cause suffers from is for self-reasons, or for poor performance. The Palestinian leader, as it is not possible to ignore the international and regional factors and the unlimited support that the Zionist entity receives from the West and the East and the blatant and blind bias towards it, because it is the project of the colonial powers from the beginning, and they supported it for many decades.
However, this does not absolve the Palestinian from responsibility for the outcome of his case. The intersection of weakness in the self-performance of "leadership" with the factors of subjective and objective strength of the Zionist entity enabled him to continue scoring points in his favour, and prompted the continuation of the Palestinian state of attrition on more than one level.
Accordingly, it is not expected that a qualitative or meaningful change will occur in the Palestinian performance, unless a real and effective change occurs in the form and performance of the Palestinian leadership.