April 15, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

Fatah wants to delay the next round of Palestinian Authority elections. As of now elections are scheduled for July.

Why the delay? Because Fatah, the official ruling PA party, reasons that they would suffer a serious defeat. They fear, correctly, that Hamas and other Islamic parties would take over.

Here is the dilemma:
The feeling on the street is that the priority of the current Palestinian leadership has not changed, that the priority remains personal gain and corruption.
Islamic parties, on the other hand, provide essential local services that the PA has never considered important. Soup kitchens. Day care. Medical clinics.

The Fatah/PA needs time to beat the negative reputation - it is the only way to win against the Islamists.
The Islamic parties have been hammering away at the corruption - past, present and future.

If the PA and Fatah do not clean up their act their biggest fear will be realized.
It won't be an assassin's bullet.
It won't be pressure from Israel and the US.
It will be losing an election and that means losing the entire the country.