The Case for a democratic Palestine
Tags: Occupation, Israel, Middle East, Democracy, Palestine

Disclaimer: My allegiance is for the civilians of Palestine. The children, mothers and fathers who are stuck between the bad leadership of Palestine and the policies (and occupation) of Israel.

Here I will try to argue my reasoning for the case of a democratic Palestine and why it is the best shot at changing basically everything/anything for the Palestinians. The status quo between Palestine and Israel have been going on for decades and no progress positive for Palestinians have been made. My suggestion is of course an idealist dream but what other options are there? Also, I am not the first one to mention this “solution” but perhaps I am one of the first offering another perspective on how to start this change of epic proportions in the middle east (I say this humbly )

Why democratic Palestine?

Because what is signals.

Pro-Israeli supporters like to mention that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. What happens when there is another one but also, in particular, it is Palestine?

This idea has been mentioned many times before, but it has been suggested like a concession and not like a means to change. For example, when transitioning to a democracy, will create a situation where Israel is occupying another democracy. What kind of signals does this send to the international community? My perspective is that a transition to democracy would be an immense boost for the Palestinian cause, more so than what any “Great March” or any “Cast Lead/Protective Edge” could gather. During this transition, Palestine should seek support from democracies/EU with the build up and transition to show that there is seriousness in the effort but also to skew the support more equal between Palestine and Israel.

Also, with the normalization going on in the middle east with Arab countries and Israel, the consensus is that Arab countries are abandoning its support to Palestine and its cause. I am not so sure about how strong this support has been the last decade+ or so, I would call it more like “Schrodinger’s support”.

Lastly, and perhaps more important, regardless of how the change to a democracy affects the surrounding area, the people I mention in the disclaimer are the ones that will benefit the most, ideally. Yes, some people will lose power, but these people have had the power for so long and not gained anything except personal wealth, this needs to change REGARDLESS of outcome.

How?

The current leadership of Palestine must be changed.

For obvious reasons, I think it would be far easier to start with West Bank first as it seems a bit more “accessible” in terms of basically everything.

The only viable idea regarding changing PA leadership must come from influential Palestinians in the diaspora and perhaps assisted by NGOs already fighting/working for the Palestinian cause. Perhaps the leadership should come from outside (but by Palestinians) in order to start this transformation.

Another means that could be used is BDS and its grassroot support/activism. BDS would need to transform a bit but I think this ideological change would (also) help it win legal battles against those institutions that try to silence it as an anti-Zionist movement.

My idea is basically adding another ideological layer. BDS should not only continue the fight it is already doing, with the boycotts, sanctions and divestment (because that kind of pressure is still needed against Israel) but they should also at the same time, push the idea of a democratic Palestine. Promoting both these arguments, seeking support for both causes would make BDS an amazing vehicle for change, not only in/against Israel but also in/against Palestine because as mentioned, the leadership of Palestine has to go/change.

How would it look like practically? Perhaps something like this:

Pause peace talks with the argument that “we” want/need to change in order for “us” to change. (The classic relationship argument that when perhaps in a couple, both are unhappy and to make the other one happy, one must make oneself happy first. Same principle here) Start democratic transformation. (This will take… some time.. but perhaps it is accelerated thanks to the added pressure from the revised BDS manifesto. For little Palestine and its people, the transformation to democracy is a way to say “Fuck you, we go our on way” to the surrounding neighbours and I think it is beautiful like that. Gain international support (During the transformation, no peace talk/negotiations should be made and preferably a standstill when it comes to attacks against Israel. At least from West Bank, Gaza is another puzzle in this piece. But during the transformation and after, more international pressure against Israel should happen and more international support for Palestine should happen as well. Democracy reached, now peace-talks (When this point is reached, Israel will be occupying a democracy, not the best look in the democratic sphere. And when being a democracy, the dynamics of the peace talk should be much more different and more equal instead of always being Israel + US vs Palestine. Here other democracies need to step up, perhaps EU?) Unknown/uncharted territory (No one knows what happens now and it might be difficult to speculate how things would develop. I know that the dynamics of the peace talks would be much different. Also, Palestine should gain a much stronger support as the “second democracy in ME”, which should be supported and defended because democracy likes to support other democracies. But whatever happens from here, it is a victory for the children, mothers, and fathers of Palestine, who are stuck between a hard place and a rock.

This is me having an idealistic idea but it is an idea I want to introduce and seek perspectives on.

I am not a fan of hypocrisy, look at BDS movement site, in their own homepage, this is what it says:

“Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.”

https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds

Does Palestinians have these human rights in Gaza/West Bank under current leadership?

This is a reason for why I am struggling a bit with supporting BDS. Yes, I support the idea but a dimension is missing in their fight and I think that my suggestion here fixes that

Let’s see how this goes..

#palestine #democracy #occupation #israel #politics