PNC meeting — quorum and quandary

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is due to be held in two weeks. Convening the council, with its 765 members, will be a big achievement for President Mahmoud Abbas, since the PNC has not been in full quorum for nearly 20 years.

Following the Oslo Accords of 1994, many founding members of the PNC refused to attend the meetings in Ramallah in an expression of rejection to the great concessions granted by Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas needed a political card to exert pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who resisted all American and European attempts to accept the basic tenets of an Israeli-Palestinian peace formula.

The 82-year-old Abbas, who overstayed his legal term of office by seven years, thinks that the Israelis will toe the line since they cannot find a negotiating partner with his capabilities to keep the administered areas calm, following the settlers’ incessant attacks on Palestinian villages and citizens.

Abbas’ and nine other executive committee members’ decision to announce, on August 22, their resignation sends one single vibrant message: that new, hardline Palestinians will be the future driving power of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, whose agenda will be prioritised by including Hamas and pro-Iran Islamic Jihad in the decision-making process as part of what has been called Palestinian reconciliation with all political factions.

Though Amman and Algeria could be more amenable venues to accommodate the PNC deliberations, since the Israeli border police might deny entry to many members on the two above-mentioned bridges, Saleem Al Zaanoun, speaker of the PNC, sent invitations to members to come to the Ramallah meetings.

In that case, 50 per cent of the council will be attending the meeting to elect the new executive committee members and a new chairman/president.

Members of the PNC are not elected, but appointed by the main political factions, which include Fateh, with 49 members, the Popular Front with 27 members and the Democratic Front, with 17 members.

There are also army officers with 42 members and other professional unions with specified quotas that make up nearly 100 members, yet the basic PNC by-law grants full legitimacy to whatever quorum attends the meetings due to what is termed “the special circumstances of the Palestinian people”.

Although Abbas declared in Amman that the purpose of his resignation from the executive committee is to “let young blood invigorate the Palestinian action”, many believe that his tactic is bound to boomerang, leading to more myopic resolutions.