INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

In Palestine,
Democracy is a Security Issue

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi
23 November 2004

With the passing of Yasser Arafat there is an overwhelming feeling of the beginning of a new era in Palestine.

For 13 years the so-called "peace process" in the Middle East has been dragged through one dark and obstructed tunnel after another. The price has been the loss not only of time but also lives. The economies of both Palestine and Israel have also been significantly affected, leaving over 60 percent of Palestinians living below a poverty line of $2 per day.

Although there has been ample finger-pointing, little effort has been made to understand why a peaceful solution is continually thwarted, to question whether in fact the reigning vision is even appropriate. Since the Oslo agreement, this vision has been governed by an Israeli concept of security - security based on the construct of Israeli military power and a strong collaborating Palestinian police force, the understanding behind this simplistic notion being that Palestinians can only be controlled by force in a police state.

Though this arrangement has failed profoundly, it remains the only system continually proposed. But instead of democracy being encouraged, the growth of lawlessness, corruption and government fixated on security has been tolerated if not cultivated by Israel and the West in Palestine. The oppressive Palestinian police system they co-opted has collapsed, largely because of constant destruction of these forces by Israel and financial pressures generated by the huge and convoluted security apparatus.

What Palestinians need more than anything is to be truly allowed to practice democratic choice, including, of course, participation in democratic elections. Only then can they elect a democratic leadership that can negotiate on their behalf in confidence; only such an elected leadership can rightfully defend basic Palestinian rights and demand equality through a process of justice.

A democratically elected leadership that respects the rule of law cannot avoid being accountable for its decisions, nor can it be manipulated into accepting arrangements that dissatisfy those it purports to represent to the extent of creating revolt or another intifada. Democratically established structures are the key to reforms, indeed to genuine reform - beyond the designs of Israeli governments to simply restructure the Palestinian Authority back into a security apparatus to control the Palestinian population.

Democracy means ensuring that security forces are not run by one political faction or leader of factions. It means their complete reform in the direction of an apolitical unity subjected to the rule of elected government. Facilitating Palestinian democracy will enable the security apparatus to become a true law enforcement body.

Scaremongers argue that democracy opens the door for fundamentalist groups, but a look at recent polls taken in Palestinian society should dispel these fears. They show that while Hamas would receive 23 percent of the vote, this is no more than would be achieved by Fatah, the leading group in the Palestinian Authority.

The real influence lies with the remaining plurality of voters, the silent majority who do not want to be part of this polarization. Most of them, in my opinion, would support a democratic opposition if given the chance. This is a majority whose voice for the time being is drowned out by the noise of guns and tank shells; a majority that can have a voice only if they are allowed to cast a vote. Eighty percent of Palestinians in the occupied territories are below the age of 33. They are striving for opportunity, participation and the hope of a better future.

The western democratic world should now support and encourage Palestinian civil society in its quest to realize the possibilities presented in growing democratic trends. Palestinians, like Israelis, are entitled to self-determination and democratic rights and to a homeland of their own where they can live with freedom and dignity, without an occupation, walls or checkpoints.

There is a certain simplicity in realizing that Israel can have security by accepting Palestinians as equal human beings. It is my profound belief that the only lasting peace we shall see will be that concluded between two democracies, governed by justice.