A pressure front to abolish the postponement...but with whom, Dahlan?

Writer: Muhammad Bassam Gouda

Muhammad Dahlan’s announcement of the formation of a “pressure front” to overthrow President Mahmoud Abbas’s decree to postpone the elections raises a fundamental political question: With whom will this front be formed if the majority of the Palestinian factions, including the Hamas movement with which his movement allied electorally, have expressed their approval for the postponement or dealt with it positively?

Is Dahlan betting on the Palestinian street or on the forces that did not join the agreement to postpone, or is it an attempt to keep his movement at the forefront of the political scene after disrupting the elections that he was counting on to bring about change within the Palestinian political system?

The irony is that the alliances that were formed in preparation for running the elections today face a different test: Can they move from an electoral alliance whose goal is to compete with Abbas to a political front that agrees to refuse to postpone the elections despite the differing positions of its parties regarding the decision?

In my opinion, dropping the postponement decree will not be achieved by announcing the formation of a pressure front, but rather by the presence of forces that are actually prepared to engage in this confrontation, a clear program, and pressure tools capable of transforming the objection into an effective political position.

The question facing Dahlan today is not how to overthrow Abbas's decree, but rather how will he form a front to overthrow it in the absence of allies ready to fight this battle?

Or is the “Pressure Front” nothing more than a political title for media consumption in a scene where alliances are easily announced yet unable to withstand the first real test?