But several of the official parliamentarians will likely be unsympathetic to a legislative competitor. Moreover, the PLC is locked in its power struggle with Arafat, and much of its own legislation has not even been ratified. Therefore, critics contend the model parliament as simply divisive and to no one's advantage. The women have thus been repeatedly attacked for gratuitous internal division for the sake of minimal social change. But even if none of their actions became law, supporters say such a model parliament fosters long-term democracy via women's progress.
Democracy has to become cultural, it has to start in the home.
Dahlia Scheindlin is a freelance writer who writes about culture and social and political issues. Issue 11, July 1998.