A third democratic trend a future possibility?

oday Palestinians are polarized by a dual political trend, the Islamists and the nationalists.  The dream of Palestine‘s educated, its academics and its technocrats is the formation of a third way which will incorporate democracy.

The easiest frame of reference to apply to this third political way is the methods used by the political forums, academic groups and factions of the last few decades, which were active outside the Hamas and Fatah frameworks and were also considered democratic.

Repeated efforts to enable a political alternative and third way have been made but to no avail and in our opinion, the inability to successfully achieve this goal is not purely a consequence of the mechanisms with which these parties operated but rather the conditions under which they did.

These parties were literally captives of four decades of political conditioning which prevented them from successfully responding to changing political realities and demands as have been discussed ad infinitum in previous articles in this newspaper.

Needless to say the political factions, whom some dreamers pin their hopes on in finding this illusive third way, are basically parties with a social agenda fitting into a national trend and have been hitherto unable to take the initiative in relation to possible support from the international socialist movement or the support of regional states. It is impossible to verify how, under different circumstances, the situation would differ.

Actually the existence of these parties, may outline the emergence of a fledgling democracy in regard to the existence of political pluralism but not in regard to the larger picture of a broader democracy. The reality of Palestinian political pluralism was held captive under the disparity of political views espoused by the political elites and the experiences of the last year are the strongest testament to this.

Central to both political camps is their division into those supporting the Oslo Accords and those opposing it.  Nevertheless, despite the chasms between the groups, expectations of them being able to form this longed-for third trend were significant due to the high ideological and intellectual standards of the Palestinian Authority and its Islamic opposition.

Under the governance of Hamas, the argument receded into the background, as the organization tried to formulate a political response to the international siege which left it little time to resolve the internal conflicts. It was supposed to pass various Islamic laws and from this the various parties would be able to work out what united and what divided them and what polarized both sides.

The main issue effecting the establishment of a third trend is the nature of different perceptions to regional and international changes and the different Palestinian visions of fulfilling this dream. If the goal of the nationalist party, with its left and right factions, is to remain in power at any price and prevent the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and enable the establishment of a Palestinian state; and if the Islamists goal is to change the way in which this goal is reached according to their own narrow definitions, then the missing link is the inability to move forward in the context of international legitimacy and regional developments.

If the trend of the Islamists is to achieve the Palestinian dream of independence and they manage this by limiting the isolation of Palestinian society from its surroundings by methods of conservatism without offending the ability of neighboring countries, who in a calculating way like to portray themselves as "open" then there is room for maneuvering by the Islamists.

The dream of a future third way will not be achievable under the current political elite but will require a grassroots societal transformation, based on progressive social programs with liberal inclinations and an openess to the outside world and the regional and international changes.  These programs should be based on an economical system, as outlined by businessmen and technocrats, who will together formulate the necessary policies in a variety of fields.

The current Palestinian dilemma has exposed the necessity of this development even though it has been impossible to implement due to the inability to reach a common concensus as the vying political parties struggle to impose their will as paramount.

A third democratic trend a future possibility?

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