The Authority's partnership with civil society — municipal elections as a test case

By: Omar Shaban

The Palestinian government's positive engagement with the appeals of Palestinian society to hold the local-government elections in a unified form in the Palestinian territories came to give a practical example of what the relationship between them should be. Some writers — among them the writer of this article, and others such as Eng. Ali Abu Shahla — had called on the Palestinian government to retreat from its decision to hold the municipal elections in the northern governorates only, as in 2012, and the necessity of holding them in the Gaza Strip also. Likewise, the NGO Network published an appeal signed by about 120 civil organisations demanding the same demand of the Palestinian government. The condition of harmony and understanding between civil society, the government, and the political forces in the field of the municipal elections presents a commendable model that must be built upon and generalised for everyone's interest.

The strength of civil society is an indicator of modernity:

Palestinian civil society, as in any society, is a fundamental and natural component of the components of Palestinian society. An effective civil society points to a refined civilisational condition with which the societies of modernity are marked: its effective presence in any society indicates its transition from the condition of primitive societies to political societies, where law, good governance, and institutionalism are. Civil society is what preserves for societies their balance and their civility in light of the overreach of ruling regimes, armies, and monopolistic profit-making companies. Civil society does not possess the power to enact laws or wage wars, and possesses no prisons for detention and the imposition of punishments — those are among the tasks of the political and military authority, which usually uses them unjustly. Therefore the strength of civil society is one of the brakes on the overreach of the regimes of political and military rule and the monopoly companies. Palestinian civil society, like others, has the complete right, and upon it the duty, of effective contribution to enriching the discussion around the issues that concern the Palestinian affair, as well as presenting advice, ideas, and proposals aiming to strengthen justice and equality among society's strata and achieve the political goals of the Palestinian people. Engaging civil society in decision-making is not a grant from the political authority; rather it is one of the sources of its legitimacy and a measure of its integrity.

Civil society and a long history of national work:

Palestinian civil society has been working with high effectiveness since the beginning of the conflict, and for long decades before the founding of the Palestinian National Authority, in facing the policies of settlement and Judaisation and in strengthening the Palestinian human being's steadfastness on their land. Civil society, with its academic and educational institutions, led the process of building the Palestinian human being and imparting to them the experience required to face the requirements of development and modernity. Palestinian civil society organisations are present in Areas C, which form 62% of the West Bank, where the National Authority's institutions do not work freely, and in the times of the crises, wars, and intifada to which the Palestinian territories generally, and the Gaza Strip especially, were and still are subjected. Palestinian civil society had, and still has, a manifest position against the monopolistic companies that work to maximise profit for the interest of the minority at the expense of the poor majority. Palestinian civil society did not stand silent or neutral before the repercussions of the accursed division that struck the Palestinian cause in a mortal spot: it did not stop for a moment contributing the ideas and practical efforts that aimed, and still aim, at ending the division — despite being subjected at times to campaigns belittling its role. And although it is a victim of the division, the blockade, and marginalisation, it rose above its suffering and worked diligently to perform its role toward the marginalised and wounded categories: it denounced political detention, the suppression of freedoms, the freezing of the democratic process, and the corrupt monopolistic contracts. In light of the accursed division, Palestinian civil society became a principal address for the marginalised strata, the youth out of work, the abused women, and other of society's strata. Civil society, especially its rights institutions, worked without tiring to expose the occupation's policies of settlement, Judaisation, killing, and bulldozing, through monitoring and documenting these violations and delivering them to the world — as well as in strengthening the advocacy campaigns for the Palestinian cause before the international forums. Civil society in its majority belongs to the middle class in society, the class that preserves for society its balance. Palestinian civil society arose within the folds of the homeland, and therefore it and its strength must be preserved. Civil society organisations in Europe are the ones who stood before the overreach of their governments against the refugees because of the wars in the Middle East. Palestinian civil society and its symbols, whether individuals or institutions, deserve appreciation, praise, and support — not marginalisation and neglect.

A true, sustainable partnership, not a formalistic, temporary one:

The lack of seriousness and the moodiness in actual partnership by the government, the private sector, and the international organisations with Palestinian civil society, in many of the pivotal issues the Palestinian cause has passed through, does not pour into the interest of society generally and the political authority especially. Civil society possesses long, accumulated experience far better than the experience of the government and the executive and diplomatic apparatuses, which are formed on the basis of calculations and political and family quota-sharing in the majority. The going-it-alone of the government, the private sector, and the international organisations in designing and applying certain policies has contributed to the severe descent from which the cause and Palestinian society suffer. The failure of the reconstruction efforts, the failure of the multiple rounds of reconciliation, the deterioration of the health and cultural services, and the sterility of the economic policies are natural results of the policies of marginalisation to which civil society in Palestine is subjected.

Toward strengthening national funding:

The absence of a national fund devoted to supporting civil society's initiatives and efforts pushes some of it to rely on international grants, some of which have their own agenda, which does not necessarily accord with the Palestinian development goals. Therefore local funding for civil-work organisations must be strengthened to reduce reliance on international funding. The German experience can be taken as guidance in this context: the foreign ministry allocates budgets for all the development arms of the political parties to support their work whether inside or outside the borders — budgets are allocated even for the opposition among them, provided they are disbursed transparently and on very professional bases, with the presentation of documented final reports on how the grant was disposed of. The Palestinian condition is absolutely unhealthy, as support is confined only to the institutions of the ruling party, although they are public funds collected from taxes from the whole of society. So I call for:

1) Founding a national fund with financial budgets allocated to it, supervised by a council chosen in a very professional manner, devoted to supporting the efforts of civil society organisations — the weak and grassroots among them — within transparent mechanisms and according to the institutions' capacity and the priority of their programmes.

2) Engaging civil society organisations in the discussion and formulation of all government policies in all fields, such that civil society is present effectively and audibly in the fields of decision-making.

3) Civil society must be a model to be emulated in the field of partnership with the government institutions and the other civil institutions of the broad society: it must direct its programmes and interventions toward the national and development goals, and strengthen the democratic foundations and values in its work and programmes.