Palestinian Authority believes change unlikely after Israeli elections

Palestinian Authority believes change unlikely after Israeli elections
Analysis: No Palestinian leaders expect anything new to come out of the elections, but they hope to see movement on issues that appear to be frozen.
3 min read
17 March, 2015
Little is likely to change after the elections [Pacific Press]

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been anticipating the results of Israeli elections, postponing the discussion of a number of important Palestinian issues until the results of the elections and their repercussions are clear - even though the positions of all Israeli candidates toward the Palestinian situation are similar.

The Palestinian political situation has been in deadlock, since the Israeli elections have been the main priority for the past three months - even though most Palestinians know that the results will not bring any change regarding the Palestinian question, as the issues of settlements, occupation, Judaisation, arrests, Jerusalem, refugees and negotiations are considered "Zionist sanctities".

Palestinian politics has recently been deadlocked.

Nonetheless, in a deliberate and well-thought out decision, the PA postponed the discussion of important Palestinian issues that are crucial on the Palestinian, Israeli and regional levels.

On the Palestinian level, the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) has not developed any mechanisms to implement the Central Council's decision to reconsider relations with the occupation.

Cashflow problems

Regarding Palestinian tax revenues withheld by Israel for the past three months, Palestinian officials including Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and government spokesperson Ihab Bseiso have changed their positions.

Instead of demanding the return of the frozen funds, which has led to a financial crisis for the PA as it failed to pay its staff, they are now waiting for the Israeli election results in hopes of receiving funds based on European promises.

"Some European countries told us the tax funds can be returned following the Israeli elections, as it is difficult for the current government to transfer them at the moment. We are still waiting for any indications from the Israeli side," Maliki stated Monday.

As for the regional level, the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the Ministerial Committee from the Council of Arab Ministries of Foreign Affairs are expected to hold a meeting on 26 March to determine how and when to go to the UN Security Council.

The meeting will be held two days before the Arab Summit in the Egyptian city of Sharm al-Sheikh.

The Committee was formed on 15 January following a request by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but it has not taken any measures to achieve its purpose yet, according to sources in the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"We know that the Arab League will not take any steps before learning the results of the Israeli elections. All meetings and steps were directed toward this path," the source said.

Political arrests and security measures hit their peak when Hamas announced PA security were spying on them.

While all the issues are deadlocked, the division between Palestinians was ironically the only issue on which there was movement.

Political analysts believe the current deadlock has not affected internal Palestinian divisions, as the media attention and security measures taken by Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza reflect a decline in reconciliation efforts, made over the past few months, to effectively open a new page.

The arrest of a leading figure in Fatah in Gaza by Hamas prompted the PA to respond by arresting dozens of Hamas figures in the West Bank.

Political arrests and the consequent security measures hit their peak when Hamas announced that the PA was spying on them, and blamed them for bombings targeting Fatah leaders in Gaza.

PA security spokesperson General Adnan al-Dumeiri confirmed that Hamas had been infiltrated, and that it instigated crises in cooperation with Mohammad Dahlan, a former Fatah leader.

This, along with Hamas' announcement and responses by Fatah leaders, led to a deterioration in mutual relations - unprecedented since the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal in April 2014 and the formation of the Palestinian national reconciliation government.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.