The Hidden Consensus Finds a Voice

by Roni Ben Efrat

The 27th of November 1999 should take a place in history as the day of the first significant organized act of defiance against the Palestinian Authority (PA). Twenty Palestinians - nine members of the legislative council along with eleven respected leaders and intellectuals - signed a manifesto entitled: "The Homeland Calls Us". Here they raise accusations not only against the PA, or PNA as they call it (Palestinian National Authority), but also, for the first time in public, against its president, Yasser Arafat. The following passage is of special significance:

"Above all, the Palestinian Authority has followed a systematic methodology of corruption, humiliation and abuse against the people. The Oslo agreement was like barter trade in favor of enriching a number of corrupt people in the PNA. The president of the PNA has paved way for some opportunists to spread corruption in the Palestinian community. The economic status of the people has deteriorated, the communal relations have weakened, the moral standards have been devastated and many health, educational and judiciary institutions have been destroyed. Alarm bells should be tolling in every city, village, refugee camp, and every corner, even in every shop, house and office. The homeland is being sold and the citizens have been devastated and frustrated.
"Let us stand together against this tyranny and corruption. The injustice cannot be stopped unless the oppressed work together against tyranny. The oppressor can only be halted by the solidity of the faithful. "

This last-minute cry resounds six years after the signing of the Oslo agreement, at a moment when Arafat is about to close the lid on a permanent-status arrangement dictated by Israel. Who then are these twenty signers, these first true bearers of the national standard? They come not from the Left, which remains remarkably quiet, nor from the Islamic parties, nor from the NGOs. The twenty are individuals - some elected, some not - who proved ready at this crucial moment to speak their minds and risk reprisal.

The points in the manifesto are by no means new in themselves. The Palestinian public loathes the conduct of its leadership and does not trust its motives in the coming negotiations. The new thing here is the public aspect. For the first time, Yasser Arafat has been publicly accused of responsibility for corruption. For the first time, the PA has been publicly accused of selling the land. For the first time, there has been a call for action. Thus, for the first time, public personalities have expressed out loud what has long been whispered in closed rooms. They put their names and safety at stake to tell the people, "You are right, and we are ready to be your voice." The manifesto brought to light a hidden consensus.
In response, the PA has cracked down viciously. (See the next article.) The knee-jerk arrests show how scared the leaders are. Nothing could better demonstrate how accurate the manifesto was in its warnings. The signers are people of public standing, most of them from important families. If the newly-revealed consensus gains momentum, the house of cards called Oslo may collapse.

The PA crackdown may also be read in another way. Arafat and his cronies want to release a threatening message: "If we're not afraid to throw these highly respected people in jail, shut them or beat them, no one is safe from us." The road will be long, but for the first time there is visible hope. A new political structure must develop. This cannot happen by reforming the creature of Oslo. The PA must be replaced.