For for the first time in decades, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel are holding legislative elections a few months apart. Many in the international community and media will see this as a joint exercise in democracy, but it is in fact a window into the reality of a two-tier system that denies Palestinians the basic freedoms and rights that many around the world take for granted. .
Drive this spring across the winding roads of the West Bank and you will see election posters interrupting the beautiful landscape of olive and almond trees. Upon closer inspection, you may soon realize that the candidate being advertised is not an ardent Palestinian running for a parliamentary seat. It is likely to be an Israeli candidate for the Israeli parliament.
This begs a very valid question: why are Israelis campaigning in the West Bank, the area designated by international law and consensus to become part of a future Palestinian state?
Israel occupies and controls the entire West Bank and has de facto attached large portions of it through the settlement of 650,000-750,000 Israelites on Palestinian land. According to the Roman statute of the International Criminal Court, a settlement undertaking of this nature is not only illegal, but is also considered a war crime. Yet these illegal settlers are capable of participating in, fighting, and voting in Israeli elections and have held the position of kingmakers in Israeli coalition politics.
Israel’s renowned ‘democracy’, like its expansionist policies, does not stop or acknowledge the green line – if that is something they have forgotten. In practice, Israel effectively exercises total control over the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.
The Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem may not vote for the regime that governs every aspect of their lives, although the Israelis living on the same land do. These 5 million Palestinians vote for the PA, an administrative body that today only partially controls 40% of the West Bank and depends on Israel for its survival. The PA had to exist for five years while Palestinians transitioned to state capture, but the state never came. Successive Israeli governments have made sure of this by using settlements and annexation to transform the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem into an archipelago of disconnected Palestinian population centers.
PA legislative elections set for May 22 come after years of political repression and a recent wave of anti-democratic laws introduced by Palestinians presidential ordinances and is aimed at the independence of the judiciary and civil society. Many see the upcoming election as a rubber stamp for power-sharing between the two ruling parties, Fatah and Hamas, with which they can strengthen the gains they made with the last parliamentary election in 2006. The reality is that in a society where the average age is 21, the majority, if not all, of leadership positions are held by those with an average age of 70.
Despite the real hunger among young Palestinians to take part in a democratic process and elect representatives, recent amendments by the PA to the electoral laws have made it virtually impossible to compete and the monopoly of the ruling factions in the West Bank and Gaza to break. The age requirement for candidates is, for example, 28, which is one of the highest in the world, which excludes many Palestinians from the candidate. To get on the menu, candidates must pay an amount of $ 20,000 (US dollars) and resign if they work in certain positions, which is extremely difficult in an economy with very high unemployment rates. Finally, the election was announced with only a few months’ lead time under a new voting system built on proportional representation, which favored established parties with a strong national presence rather than young political supporters.
Beyond these structural constraints, there is the crushing impact of the military occupation on the political participation of Palestinians. Israel has consistently denied Palestinians the possibility of holding elections in Jerusalem and has arrested elected members of parliament. Occupied Palestinians live under Israeli military orders and therefore have no civil rights; they have no freedom of assembly, association or expression, and it is illegal to start a Palestinian political party.
The story of these two elections is not about democracy, but about giving legitimacy to a system that maintains the supremacy and domination of one nation over another. In this reality, Palestinians are deprived of sovereignty and the agency to shape their lives, their future and the ability to challenge this oppression. This system cannot offer true democracy and as such it must be dismantled. A new social contract must be built where every person can practice true self-determination and be free and equal.
Palestinians need an institutional vehicle to rekindle their national movement so that it can challenge the status quo. The road ahead begins with a reformed political system that is democratic and representative and that can give all 13 million Palestinians around the world a voice. The road to freedom begins with us.