2022-10-06

Palestine

West Bank / Gaza / Core Program / position paper

The community committee to end the division, formed by an initiative of MUSAWA – The Palestinian center for the independence of the legal profession and the judiciary, expresses its gratitude to all the factions, political parties, and independent figures for responding to its invitation to participate in the dialogue session held at MUSAWA’s office in Gaza on Saturday 01/10/2022. This session is about discussing the way to ensure the success of the reconciliation endeavors in the national dialogue. It is held in Algeria, based on the initiative and invitation from our sister country Algeria that is widely known to fight for the rights of the Palestinian people and considers the Palestinian Case as an Algerian National case and one of the main concerns of the Algerian People. It indicated the participation of 18 representatives of 15 factions, political parties, and a group of independent figures in the mentioned meeting from all sectors of the political work, without exception.

The committee emphasizes on the importance of the meeting outcomes and calls to approve and adopt them in the Algeria dialogue in a way that achieves political agreement on common ground. Accordingly, Implementing it, building on it, and adhering to it is a significant step toward social agreement on a comprehensive national strategy for reconciliation, that follows the standards of transitional justice to ensure its sustainability and never return to the abhorrent separation again. Thus, it stresses on the importance of agreeing and adhering to the following:

- The inclusion of all factions, political parties, and independent figures in the dialogue intended in Algeria, and in all meetings and endeavors aimed at achieving comprehensive societal and political reconciliation, and not be limited to the two sides of the division, Fatah and Hamas.

- The formation of an office for constant communication for factions, political parties, and independent figures to guarantee that their right to take part in formulating the upcoming reconciliation agreement is protected by both sides of the division.

- The commitment of all factions, political parties, independent figures, civil society institutions, and social activists to work on retrieving and enabling the role of the Palestinian society in all its classes and intellectual sectors,  in order to influence the decision-makers and force them to achieve a comprehensive social and political reconciliation according to the standards of transitional justice, as the sole tool to protect the Palestinian national existence and achieve its national, political, and development goals. It also contributes to peaceful democratic mechanisms of public pressure that aim to force all parties, forces, and factions to achieve reconciliation as fast as possible and regain the trust between the citizens and politicians. Therefore, this constitutes a social and political reconciliation based on the declaration of independence and the Palestinian basic law, restores the status of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and achieves institutional reform that is qualified to lead the Palestinian people to achieve their national goals of liberation, independence, and democracy.

- The need to enable the collective role of the civil society institutions and other social activists and enhance its efforts and participation in all aspects of the extensive community movements to bolster the chance of the success and sustainability of the reconciliation.  Carry out all the activities and events aimed at raising social awareness of the importance of the reconciliation’s success. Endorse a reconciliation agreement based on a comprehensive national strategy that follows the standards of the transitional justice to consolidate the reconciliation as a choice and a reality. Adopting, protecting it from any obstacles, that aim to impede its implementation or distort its image, by building on and developing the previous reconciliation’s agreements, and the inclusion of the mechanisms of the transitional justice to ensure success in achieving the goals of the social reconciliation without returning to the division and its causes.

- Maintaining the independence of the Palestinian decision regarding the reconciliation, without any intervention whatsoever.

- Rejecting, by all legitimate means, any attempt to turn the division into a separation, considering it as the gravest danger threatening the Palestinian national existence and the unity of its people and homeland.

- Respecting the right of the Palestinian people, as the source of authority, in choosing their representatives through periodic and genuine elections and accept its outcomes as the only way for a collaborative peaceful discussion, that follows the values and constitutional principles enshrined in the declaration of independence and the basic law. This is achieved through a binding agreement that the elections and reconciliation are integrally linked, which preserves the people’s right to choose their representatives, and the right to participate in politics through a unified executive leadership, and adopt elections as the way to build the institutions of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

We, as the community committee to end the division, call for the genuine and practical political will of all factions, political parties, independent figures, and social activists to truly commit to achieving the demands outlined above. We look forward to ending the frustration and silence of all our people, hoping to raise their voices and bolster their collective and unified pressure to achieve reconciliation as the right and the guarantee of their existence, and a tool to achieve their national goals, shape their present and build a future for the next generations.  

Palestine

06/10/2022