JMCC / Politics in Palestine

Platform of the 13th Government
July 2007

(Speaker’s office) and PLC members,

Greetings

In accordance with the Basic Law and the applicable Palestinian laws and presidential decrees, as well as constitutional rules and traditions, I hereby present the 13th Palestinian government’s platform. This government came about following the expiry of the state of emergency and the issuance of a presidential decree on July 13, 2007, in which the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, President of the National Authority, asked that the 12th government continue functioning as a care-taker government and to carry out the assigned duties.

And whereas the President has tasked us with forming the new government (which would be the 13th Palestinian government) to work in accordance with a political platform that shall accomplish the high interests of our Arab Palestinian people, and based on the text and content of the presidential decree, our government platform shall be based on the following principles:

The government shall abide by President Abbas’s political platform, which is based on the Palestinian national program, including the Palestinian peace platform, and the Declaration of Independence in 1988 issued by the Palestinian National Council in its 18th session, and on the Arab Peace Initiative, as well as all pertinent international resolutions. The government views peace not only as a strategic option, but also as a necessity dictated by the current political circumstances as well as by the current state of international relations and obligations which determine that the Palestinian people must embrace an open foreign policy; one that is in harmony with the legitimacies of the Palestinian, Arab and international stances.

To fully abide by the bilateral and multilateral agreements signed by the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian National Authority, including those agreements signed with Israel.

To enhance democratic practices, and to work on implementing and exercising them comprehensively by the National Authority, political factions, and social and economic forces in Palestine.

To fully abide by professional criteria and impartiality upon selecting members of our cabinet, and while filling all other key positions in the Authority, in accordance with the law.

To preserve the unity of the Palestinian people among all its social and political segments as a prerequisite to enhancing the steadfastness on their national soil and accomplishing their goals.

To abide by principles of good governance and to pursue reforms on the path of building the state of law and institutions.

The Government’s goals:

To end the occupation and to create our independent state - with holy Jerusalem as its capital - on all the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, based on the principles and terms of the 1988 Declaration of Independence, and to find a just and agreed upon solution to the issue of refugees on the basis of resolution 194. To work on ending settlement activities, the separation wall, and to remove all material and political impediments which constitute real obstacles hindering the accomplishment of these goals.

To work on reinstalling effective control of the legitimate authority in the entire Gaza Strip, and to restore the unity of the wounded homeland - that faced conspiracies, aggression and a violent take-over of the Authority and its institutions. This matter continues to pose a threat to the unity of the homeland and the national traditions of the Palestinian people.

To support the city of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Palestinian people and its economic and cultural status in addition to its sublime religious standing. Our government shall work to provide all means of support to revive the political, cultural and economic status of Jerusalem through revitalization of its institutions and economy by creating jobs, construction of housing units, and by improving the competitiveness of its services and products. This is liable to enhance the residents of Jerusalem steadfastness while confronting the schemes of settlements activities and migration. The government shall seize all opportunities to preserve Jerusalem, and enable it to restore its historic status as it was throughout the ages i.e., a city of peace, tolerance and worship open to indigenous Palestinians, and all human beings without neither walls nor roadblocks.

To deliver security and safety as most pressing priorities. Accomplishing these would be the only way to enhance rule of law, restore confidence in the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian economy. Therefore, the government pledges to end the state of security chaos, lawlessness and armed activities while upholding the policy of “one gun, one authority”; and to enforce law and order, and to provide security to the Palestinian citizens, foreign workers and the guests of the Palestinian people.

To focus development and economic efforts on combating poverty, alleviating unemployment and economic recession, and to provide necessary funds to do so from all possible resources, and to promote the management of development projects while transparently coordinating and directing assistance towards our national priorities accomplish our goals; and to coordinate such efforts with professional syndicates, and economic institutions and representatives of private sector in order to achieve the objectives of balanced socio-economic development.

To carefully cater for political prisoners in Israeli jails, and to alleviate their suffering and that of their families. This file will remain a high priority on the government’s agenda which will seek to secure their release, and to meet their living needs and to secure decent livelihood for their families while facilitating their quick integration in society. The government also pledges to meet the needs of the families of the martyrs and the wounded.

To enhance the rule of law and preserve the judicial system’s independent standing, and to provide all needed human and financial resources to that end in order to enforce the principle of rule of law and to justice.

To combat corruption, nepotism and favoritism and to provide equal opportunities in filling government positions, away from factional considerations, and to pay attention to the individuals with special needs in terms of their entitlement to be employed in government positions.

To pay special attention to the situation and needs of the refugee camps at the economic, health and cultural levels and to provide assistance in delivering the best level of services while improving their living conditions.

To promote agricultural activities and to protect agricultural products by providing markets; and securing other means of support, including increasing agricultural lands and protecting these against the ongoing settlement expansion, and to cater to the needs of the Jordan valley area and lands behind the wall and by protecting water resources and preventing irrational use of irrigation water.

To promote the concept and practice of “good citizenship,” as one based on responsibility and commitment to the high national interests while enhancing enfranchisement in the context of a comprehensive development framework.

To preserve human rights, and protect public freedom and individual liberties. To protect freedom of expression and respect of views and counter views and to enhance concepts of tolerance, including religious tolerance, principles of political, cultural and intellectual pluralism while being open towards others people’s cultures and creativity.

To build a clear cut strategy to fight all practices centered on accusing “others” of atheism and/or treason. To combat the exploitation of religion to achieve political gains by groups or individuals, and to enhance the status of Islam as a religion of tolerance and moderation while preventing the use of Islam to justify killings, exclusion of others and destruction.

To achieve equality between men and women in all domains and to preserve women's political, social, economic and legal achievements. The leading role of the Palestinian women in the national struggle compels the government to fully support women and enhance their participation in all walks of life i.e., political, social and economic. In this context, the government realizes the significant role of the Palestinian family and shall work to enhance the role of the Palestinian family in the process of upbringing of children so as to build a society free of social and cultural diseases.

To double the attention and focus on the youth sector and to provide job opportunities to this sector inside the homeland to enable the youth to contribute to the building of the independent Palestinian State.

To specially cater to the needs of marginalized groups to enable them to be involved in the economic, social and cultural activities and to provide effective social safety nets for these groups.

To pay attention to the cultural centers and activities and to support the role and activities of artists, and journalist based on keen interest in the efforts exerted by these groups to achieve the national goals of the Palestinian society while confronting the forces of backwardness and darkness.

To enhance relations with civil society organizations and to build true partnership with them in the various sectors.

To preserve the environment and work to protect the cultural and natural heritage in Palestine.

To promote medical and health services in all areas and at all levels. To focus on promoting primary health care services and promoting the qualitative productivity of these services. The government shall work on promoting specialized medical services and providing the needed infrastructure and equipment to eliminate the use of external hospital referrals for medical treatment.

To promote education qualitatively and quantitatively and to provide the needed funding and human resources to that end. To promote the educational curricula to meet the modern standards and to confront isolationist tendencies, primitiveness and backwardness. To support universities and other academic institutions and research centers in order to develop an enlightened Palestinian citizen capable of employing knowledge and modern technology in all domains.

In order to achieve these goals, the government will put forth and implement “an Urgent Economic Revival Plan” for the upcoming six moths, and to delineate a long term vision for the building of the independent state and prepare a medium term plan for the years 2008-2010. The urgent plan for the next six months includes the following components:

A general budget for the remaining months of the year 2007 and to work on providing sufficient revenues to pay the salaries regularly and to settle outstanding dues of the employees and to settle outstanding bills owed by the government to the private sector to the maximum extent possible.

To put forth a plan to provide an emergency / humanitarian relief to our people in the Gaza Strip which would include food, medications and other essential needs.

The urgent development plan will include completion of all pending and suspended infrastructure projects i.e., electricity, roads etc. And also to provide urgently the needs in the health and education sectors. This will include packages of projects that aim at reviving the private sector, reform oriented projects, including the judicial system and institutional development of the government ministries and agencies.

On a medium term basis, the government shall put forth a national program to build the economy and the institutions of the independent Palestinian state starting with developing a realistic and sound development vision that would determine the identity and quality of the aspired Palestinian economy and specify its status regionally and internationally. This program will be implemented on a medium term basis i.e. 2008-2010 and will be built on integrating the development plan into the general budget. This will be accomplished through full participation of all government ministries and agencies along with private sector firms and civil society organizations to guarantee consensus and commitment to meeting the interests of the partners in this development process. This shall be the right prelude to transform the Palestinian economy to a state of sustainable development which takes into account the rights of future generations. We shall see to it that this plan be responsive to the development priorities in all sectors.

The creation of the State of Palestine is a Palestinian demand as well as an Arab quest, that enjoys wide international support. The government will work tirelessly and persistently in all arenas to enhance Arab, Islamic and international solidarity for our struggle and to achieve international consensus on the necessity to implement pertinent international resolutions, and to give the Arab Peace Initiative the ample opportunity in order to be the platform to achieve a comprehensive peace to end the decades-long bloody conflict and to end the state of war which exhausted the peoples of the region.

Members of the Council,

While presenting the platform of the new government, I should not fail to highlight the role of the previous government which was tasked with enforcing the state of emergency under difficult and complex political and security circumstances due to the coup against legitimacy in the Gaza Strip and the subsequent aggressions against the legitimate institutions and employees as well as the destruction of what was built by the Palestinian people, and violations of all legitimate rights. Despite this, the government was able to provide for flow of funds, humanitarian needs including foodstuffs, medication, electricity, water and other essential needs to our people in the Gaza Strip. The government was also able for the first time in more than 15 months to pay the salaries in full to all employees. The government settled part of the outstanding dues to the employees and the private sector which restored confidence in the government and its ability to function and to meet its commitments. The government succeeded in ending the political and financial siege and in resuming the flow of funds and development activities. Finally, the government embarked on implementing a security plan that should ensure the capacity of the security establishment in carrying out its main duty in providing security and protection to the citizens and safeguarding the national program and aspirations.

As we highlight the content of the letter of designation, I hope that you will approve giving the 13th government confidence to enable it to carry out its duties under these critical circumstances.

Thank you for your cooperation and May God bless you;

Ramallah
July 22, 2007

Salam Fayyad
Prime Minister Designate
The 13 Government