Friday, August 31, 2007

"Palestine state " ; our readiness to establish a state.

Through this blogging world I received many comments, notes and questions about our ( Palestinian ) readiness to build our own state. In fact I used to view such comments or questions as "provocations" and "nonsense" , nothing more. But now, as I am personally living and experiencing the real situation of the Palestinian Organizations, I am asking myself this question : are we really able to handle a 'state' ?
Hebron, which is the biggest city in the West-Bank, and second most important after Ramallah ( the center -or capital - of the West-Bank now ) is my example that I want to analyze to answer this question. Unfortunately there is NO single clue that gives you the impression that there are ORGANIZATIONS in Hebron. Almost all of the societies, establishments, charities, and non-governmental organizations are lacking the most important ingredients of a successful NGO. The administrative staff of almost all Palestinian NGOs is lacking the Leadership qualities, the vision and the capabilities to DO almost ANYTHING. Financially, these NGOs are more close to complete failure than to corruption. Employees are lacking training and even the experienced ones are lacking the professional capabilities. There is no training activity of any type in almost all NGOs. Actually without the direct financial support of donating foreign organizations ( Western or Arab ) most of local NGOs will not survive few months.

These facts, together with the structure of the Palestinian Society - which is strongly supported by loyalty to family and extended family- makes the answer closer : We are surely NOT able to handle a 'state' and we will probably not be able to do so even with foreign aid.

The few billions of dollars that the Palestinian National Authority received after the Oslo agreement were spent without ANY vision or planning. Hamas Government, which was replaced by Salam Fayyad Government few months ago, was the best example of how bad the situation REALLY is. Without direct financial support, we couldn't even survive for few months.

It is really very strange. How can we expect to build a state and a nation while having a blind leadership that has not been able to meet ANY of our expectations ? There will be NO hope for a Palestinian State unless the lead is given to a third hand, other than Hamas and Fatah ( at least in their current structure and ideology ).

Only until then we can really ask for a state of our own !

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in the West-Bank...Another hand-made NAQBA for Palestinians !

Nearly two months ago Hamas " forces " were able to take control over Gaza , kicking out all "Fatah " " Forces " and taking control over everything. Palestinian President, Abbas, considered this as a "rebellion" and almost all Arab and Western countries supported him. US money started to pour over the West-Bank, and suddenly a new "Palestinian" government was formed and given the approval and support of all Arab and Western governments. Even Israel started the contacts with this government, on the presidents level.

What happened in Gaza and how could Hamas take over in hours ?
The majority of the Palestinian Security Forces in Gaza ( and in the West-Bank too ) are not really Security Forces. They miss the least needed qualities of a security force. The problem is not with financial or technical things, it is more of a purely professional and cultural one. On papers you read that there are 60,000 security members in Gaza, who were supposed to be the security forces controlling Gaza. On reality you could count 400-500 members ONLY. The rest are either not existing, or are just existing on papers ( people are taking salaries without even going to work ). Second, the already existing forces are no more than a group of "men" who are wearing the uniforms and carrying guns without ANY real professional leadership. Even that type of leadership that can be found among 'gangs' is missing ! President Abbas knows this problem very well. It is surely not easy to end this problem : many "supporters' will lose their salaries and income and thus the whole political balance will be disturbed. Yet, the price of not fixing such a serious imbalance was obvious : Hamas - and probably any other insignificant military force- were able to take over all Gaza in hours. Few days after this "event " ( Hamas taking over Gaza ) , a senior Fatah member was explaining the reasons for this very fast collapse in Gaza. He said that very few Fatah members actually resisted Hamas, and that the majority of "leaders" , members and soldiers escaped or surrendered without the least resistance , ..., these people are being PAID and they are not ready to risk their lives for anyone, including Abbas himself , ..., why would they risk to lose all the money they collected and die and leave them behind ..???

What does all this add to Palestinians ?
To the average Palestinians this meant almost NOTHING ! The life has been miserable, so it will be now. Everyone is aware of the total carelessness and absence of law and order, and this 'event' added nothing , it is just another consequence of many that are to come.
Internationally we lost more and more support. But most importantly we are losing our unity.
Hamas is now taking decisions. Some of them are very serious . Fatah in the West-Bank is trying to eliminate all Hamas activities and potentials. All western support is being spent as usual : randomly and unwisely.
Sooner or later we will be left with each other. No one will be supporting anyone anymore. What will happen then ?

Again, all these 'events' in our lives are leading us to one single conclusion : we need wise and responsible people to lead us. Only then we will start to know what our potentials are, and start to know what are the possible solutions. Until then, many other 'events' will follow, but how fast we will learn from them ?


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