Challenge: Name a successful, peaceful Arab country.
Palestinian Parliament Building Attemptingto Be The Palestinian MuseumBy David Lange January 21, 2020
Palestinian museum: I sum up the Palestinian cause in a nutshell.
Smashed doors, dusty tables and 12 years of unreadmail — welcome to the defunct Palestinian parliament. It has been more than adecade since the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) last met, due toinfighting between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah and IslamistsHamas. The two sides are currently talking up the prospect of new elections —the first since 2006 — but for now the key Palestinian political institution,located in the occupied West Bank, lies empty.
It is mid-morning on a recent week day in Ramallahbut the hundreds of spaces in the parliament’s car park hold just a few dozenvehicles. The main door to the parliamentary chamber is shuttered, with anarmed police officer standing guard. A back route leads through a partiallysmashed glass door. Inside the chamber, dust gathers on rows of empty seatsaround a central speaker’s dais. In the parliamentary offices next door, thepostman still delivers mail to the lawmakers’ boxes, but many haven’t beenchecked in years. The most senior figures, including chief Palestiniannegotiator Saeb Erekat, have the largest piles.
In 2004 the shiny new parliament building wasopened in central Ramallah, the Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank 10miles (16 kilometres) north of Jerusalem. Construction was largely funded byJapan and was intended to symbolise a return to democracy after the bloodyPalestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel in the early 2000s. It onlysaw one general election, in 2006, when Hamas won an unexpected victory.
The Islamist party won 74 of the 132 seats, whileAbbas’s secular Fatah got 45.
Hamas, which does not recognise Israel’s right toexist, is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and EuropeanUnion. Many countries refused to accept the election result. A year later Hamasseized the Gaza Strip from Abbas’s forces in a bloody conflict that verged oncivil war. With lawmakers at each others’ throats, parliament was suspended in2007.
Most politicians stopped turningup but kept receiving salaries of about $3,000 a month — in a territory wherenearly a quarter of people live in poverty. About 120 civil servants at theparliament in Ramallah and dozens more in Gaza continued working, awaitingbetter days. They still receive salaries but have no one to serve, said RashaKawas, who has worked for the PLC for more than 20 years.
The parliament retains some official roles —including coordinating with others in the Arab world and beyond. There areparliamentary panel discussions, visits by school students and the occasionalcitizen looking for assistance. But more often than not there is nothing happening at all, one employeesaid. Official working hours are between 8am and 3pm, though these were “a bitflexible”, the employee added. So what do they do all day? He gestured to hisphone.
Here’s a typical day at the Palestinian parliament.
A huge wasteof time and money. And the worst part? They can’t blame Israel.
