Driving...we fell into the trap

Writer: Jihad Harb

It seems that the Palestinian political class has not yet learned from the crises it has experienced over the past years, whether from the repercussions of the situation in the Second Gulf War when Iraq occupied the land of the sisterly State of Kuwait, or in acting after October 7, 2023, to contain the arrival of the disaster, or by issuing a presidential decree based on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, which “does not have jurisdiction” and the agreement of the main Palestinian factions. To postpone the elections, which were scheduled to be held on November 28, 2026, without taking into account the obligations and pledges of the State of Palestine towards friendly countries and the international community.

In my opinion, the amount of pressure being exposed to the Palestinian leadership by the American administration and its followers is well known, and may be acceptable if there is a shift or signs of a shift in American policy, but continuing to bet on promises or fragments of promises that are not implementable has become unacceptable. On the other hand, international movements have emerged to disengage from American influence over the Palestinian issue or to depart from its dominance over the axes of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as an dishonest mediator. These signs are represented by a parallel international track, led primarily by France and Saudi Arabia, to implement the two-state solution option.

The decision to postpone the legislative elections “even if these elections were incomplete” led to anger by countries that were friendly or turned to be “friendly” in the past two years as a result of the lack of respect for the written pledge made by the Palestinian leadership to them within the framework of the new path of the international community “implementing the two-state solution option, and in contracting with donor countries to implement the reform program in the institutions of the Palestinian Authority, and in letters of recognition of the Palestinian state, especially to French President Emmanuel Macron.

This anger was represented by statements by European Union foreign ministers and a joint statement from the four countries that recognized the State of Palestine in the year 2025, “France, Britain, Canada, and Australia.” The most harsh was the statement of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which conditioned any assistance to build the institutions of the State of Palestine on respecting written pledges, and asked the European Foreign Affairs Commissioner, in a diplomatic manner, to “hold elections as soon as possible.”

The diplomatic formulas issued by these parties carry multiple repercussions, not the least of which is the study of stopping or reducing the financial aid provided by these countries individually or by the European Union to the Palestinian Authority, not to mention the possibility of political fluctuations in their positions on the Palestinian issue by reducing the measures they have taken in confronting Israel and its crimes, such as preventing the import of settlement products, and may amount to pressure on the Palestinian leadership as a political blockade.

In my opinion, “most likely it is not a sin” that the Palestinian leadership has gotten itself into a dilemma from which it cannot escape. If it responds and cancels the presidential decree to postpone the elections until September 11, 2027, it will show that it is subservient to external forces in a gross manner, and if it insists on what was stated in the postponement decree, it will have to bear the political repercussions of not respecting the commitments it made, and burden the Palestinian people with the resulting burdens. Neither continuation is acceptable nor is retreat possible, and the Palestinian leadership says, “We fell into the trap.”