Canceling the elections, October 7, and the bottom of the abyss

Writer: Jihad Harb

(1) The elections are postponed in a manner similar to cancellation

Announced statements from some Palestinian factions indicating the postponement of holding legislative elections on 11/28/2026, which the Executive Committee is supposed to recommend to the Palestinian President so that he can embody it in a presidential decree. This information reveals two main issues: The main Palestinian factions have only agreed for twenty years to postpone the elections, that is, to circumvent the will of the Palestinian people, and that the proposed postponement practically tastes of cancellation, as the presidential decree will not specify the polling day for the scheduled elections, leaving that to an agreement between the factions later. These statements also did not talk about the condition of holding general elections (presidential and legislative) simultaneously in the future, but rather maintained ambiguity about the agreed-upon foundations for reforming and solidifying the Palestinian political system through a consensual formula that is usually at the expense of the sectarian and partisan interests of these factions.

If these statements occur and the elections are postponed without explicitly specifying a date for holding them, I believe, they will increase the tension in Palestinian society leading to an explosion, and many of the countries that recently recognized Palestine will consider this to be a deception of the State of Palestine’s respect for its obligations; Which may cause the Palestinians to lose some of their friends or those who became friends following the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli government in the Gaza Strip and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

(2) October 7, from earthquake to disaster

The Hamas movement, after three years, has still not conducted an assessment and review of the events of the October 7, 2023 operation, and held its organizational and political frameworks accountable, especially since Sinwar’s letter to the Israeli side in September 2023, which was revealed by former Minister Sufyan Abu Zayda on the third anniversary of the operation, talked about causing an earthquake if the prisoner exchange negotiations did not reach an agreement on the release of Palestinian prisoners; That is, the threat has a known goal and is specific to move from releasing the elderly, the sick, women, children, those released from the Shalit deal, and the veteran prisoners to forcing the Israeli government to empty the prisons of all Palestinian prisoners.

This earthquake on the Israeli side turned into a disaster on the Palestinian side. The leadership of the Hamas movement did not follow the rules of due diligence so that the consequences of the earthquake and its painful effects were limited to the Israeli government, the failure to rectify the mistakes that occurred during the operation, and the absence of political understanding of its effects.

Usually, political leadership is not only required to exercise due diligence, but also to ensure achieving results. That is, striving to implement commitments, covenants, or goals of their monopoly by controlling the resources and capabilities of the people, ensuring their safety, wisdom in managing their lives, and prudence in making crucial decisions. In my opinion, it is absent from all the outdated decisions that governed the fate of the Palestinian people, who have reached the “bottom” of the abyss. Without accountability in official institutions, and without popular accountability through the ballot boxes by preventing the holding of general elections.