Dr Daiq
starts by a rapid historic of the NGO sector in
Palestine saying that all started with voluntary
work and involvement of Palestinian people. At this
period they were very close to people.
When the
Palestinian Authority had been introduced in 1995,
there was a conflict with the already existing
strong NGO’s because it was difficult for them to
accept the control from the PA. In 2000, a law was
voted to regulate NGO activities and then the
relation started to get better.
The problem
is that most of the NGO’s started to focalise in the
elite and to have big office in the cities. So a lot
of services were not provided to the rural areas,
and that left the area for Hamas intervention. At
this moment around 2000, PARC planned a reform to
reinforce its grassroots involvement and tried to
enlighten donors and local organizations on the
importance of building a bottom up social movement.
People also
started to identify NGO’s with the PA because 185 of
them were directly or indirectly funded by the PA
being governmental based organizations, and then
Palestinians started connecting part of the NGO
sector with the emerging corruption.
Some NGO
workers started to get involved in the political
life, as part of the third way. But they were not
unified so they couldn’t represent a real
alternative to Hamas or Fatah.
Dr Ismaïl
highlighted the fact that some donors have been
requesting joint projects between the Palestinian
NGO’s and the PA, and this politic resulted in
weakening of the NGO’s and in building a gap
between the people and the non-governmental sector,
which paved the way for Hamas.
Dr Ismaïl
suggested that the priority should now be to return
back to grassroots actions. He also stressed the
fact that the NGO sector needed less pressure from
outside – the donors – and more cooperation inside –
between all the NGOs.
Hanna
Siniora – European Palestinian Chamber of Commerce
Mr Siniora
agreed with Dr Shiqaqi about his interpretation of
Hamas’ victory.
He
suggested the possibility of a power share between
the Prime Minister and the President concerning the
issue of security considering that the security
forces are currently Fatah supporters.
He shared
the idea that Hamas will be concentrated in the
social issue, and implement the change and reform
slogan to show that they are different from Fatah
and more efficient. The President and the PLO would
be in charge of negotiation and external relations
because Hamas can’t face the entire world.
According
to him it is too early to know what will be Hamas
priorities and relationship with Mahmoud Abbas and
the international community. Nevertheless, he
stressed the fact that Hamas position against the
recognition of Israel is the same than PLO position
twenty years ago, so we can hope that the contact
with the realpolitik would change their position.
The recent declaration about the possibility of a
long-term cease-fire is going in this way.
He called
for the international community to play an active
role in the evolution of the Palestinian
socio-political situation. He condemned Israeli and
United States’ first reaction to announce that they
will stop the aid for Palestinian people. It was not
carefully thought-out which could have provoked a
radicalisation of Hamas.
According
to him the eventuality of a decrease for the
international community support to the PA would
increase NGO role but would have a negative effect
by the pressure and the political implication it
would involve.
Debate
with Mohammed Altar as mediator
The
Netherlands representation wanted to clarify the
European Union position about the elections which
can basically be summarized in one word: wait.
Indeed the EU considers this moment as a transition
period, during when the government will be chosen
and by this way the future political orientation of
the Palestinian Authority. They refused to create a
financial crisis by stopping the aid. At the
contrary they have the willingness to influence
Hamas choices by being a financial partner. The
representative said that it was impossible to ask
too much to Hamas as an immediate demilitarisation
and recognition of Israel because the party would
refuse it, but that it was important to maintain
relation with them to incorporate Hamas in the
political process.
But he
added that there was a problem of legality for
United States as well as for the EU because Hamas is
considered as a terrorist organisation, and by this
way it is not admitted to fund it.
A
representative of Welfare association highlighted
the influence of Israel and USA in Hamas progress by
saying that they didn’t supported the PA by the
constant violation of the road map, so they would
have favoured the contempt for an inefficient power.
A
representative of Rural Women Development Society,
candidate for the elections in Jerusalem district,
stressed the fact that the victory of Hamas is a
defeat of development workers who couldn’t offer an
alternative to the poverty of people. She said that
now everybody should work together to propose a
better future not just for the country, but also for
the region.
Oxfam
Belgium insisted in the role played by the
international NGOs who invested a massive amount of
money in development projects but didn’t play any
political role. She said that without political
measures, this work was inefficient. She stressed
the fact that the international community should not
just condemn Hamas to be a terrorist organisation,
but should condemn Israel for all the violation of
human rights and international law. She highlighted
the necessity for NGO and PA to work together in
order to plan the development of the territories.
She also required a better evaluation of development
projects, especially in women sector, because a lot
of women voted for Hamas despite the important work
that has been done in their direction.
Someone
asked Dr Shiqaqi about the example of Qalqilyia,
where Hamas was elected in the local election but
defeated in the PLC elections. He answered that the
local and national election logic was really
different, especially considering that the rural and
urban areas have distinct strategy of vote. He
stressed the fact that usually rural areas, as well
as refugees camp were more supporting to Hamas,
whereas urban areas where supporting Fatah and third
way.
Asked about
the possibility of an islamic revolution in
Palestine and the implementation of the charia’, Dr
Shiqaqi said that Hamas won’t be able to go against
what the people wants, and that the poll shows that
there is no support for a revolution. He said that
the influence of the Muslim Brothers would not be in
a way to radicalise Hamas position, but at the
contrary asking for moderation.
About the
security forces, Hanna Siniora said that it would be
desirable that all Hamas forces were integrated in
the national security forces in a first time, and in
a second time that the strength of the forces would
be reduced progressively.
To conclude
Dr Ismaïl called the international community to play
a role to influence Hamas in its policy because
according to him, there are now two choices for the
future government: an Islamic country that can be
compared to Al Qaida and a modern and secular
country as Turkey.
