RAMALLAH, November 2 (JMCC) - As the Palestine Liberation Organization and its main faction Fateh form committees to explore the future of the interim Palestinian government, Palestinians have mixed feelings about the prospect of disbanding the Palestinian Authority,
reports Al-Akhbar.
The government was created as an interim authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1993 peace agreements with Israel. Palestinians intended a state to take its place once a final deal was completed.
Eighteen years later, some charge that the Palestinian Authority is doing Israel's job for it, policing the areas it has occupied since 1967 in lieu of real independence.
Reportedly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to disband the body if there is no movement on talks with Israel.
Al-Akhbar toured the cities of the West Bank and asked Palestinians about disbanding the PA. We began in Salfit, where we met Mohammad Abu Allan. He says he is in favor of disbanding the PA, but not immediately. He bases his opinion on the announcement by Abbas, which said that over a six-month period, Abbas will call on the international community to recognize the Palestinian state. If and when they fail to do so, the PA will be disbanded, which will include the cancellation of agreements signed with the Israeli side.
But Ali Draghme from Nablus thinks that the PA, for all its weaknesses, has managed to accomplish a few things. He says, “I can’t give a yes or no answer. I’m for disbanding the PA if things remain as they are now, because it is absolutely impossible to accept the present situation.”
Neither Abbas nor anyone else within the Palestinian leadership is capable of disbanding the PA, because of exceedingly complicated domestic and foreign considerations.Amid Duwaikat, also from Nablus, thinks that disbanding the PA would create a power vacuum, resulting in grave consequences. He said, “The state of chaos that prevailed previously in the Palestinian Territories could return again in full form if the PA is disbanded. So disbanding the PA would have a catastrophic impact from the perspective of security. Meanwhile, we speak about an unstable and fragile economy,” and he wonders, “what will be its fate if the PA is disbanded?”
Ahmed al-Barghouti from Ramallah did not hesitate to say that he supports dismantling the PA in response to Israeli stubbornness and unconditional American support for the occupation, but only as a final option.