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14 Feb 2011 11:07

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World: Palestinian situation looking pretty freaking messed-up right now

  • I can’t advocate accountability and transparency all my life and then comes the biggest breach in Palestinian national security – the stealing of the documents from my office – and let it be business as usual. What I want to do is plant the seeds for the future of Palestinian officials. When officials make mistakes, they are out.
  • Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat • Explaining why he left his office in the wake of the recent “Palestine Papers” scandal, which was rooted from a leak in his office. Erekat’s exit over the weekend is only one sign of an overwhelming instability that showed up in the wake of the Egyptian unrest. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad straight-up dissolved the cabinet and plans to replace them all within six weeks. The cabinet was long seen by many in the Fatah movement as dysfunctional, indluding Fayyad – and not even all the seats in the cabinet were actually filled with people. Is a fresh start what Palestine needs, at least politically? source

12 Feb 2011 19:07

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World: Palestine fighting over itself over Egypt-inspired election plans

  • We call upon all parties to set aside their reservations and disagreements. Let us work together to hold elections and uphold the will of the Palestinian people. As for differences and disagreements, whether in political or security matters, we believe that these issues could be resolved by the coming elected Legislative Council.
  • A message from the Palestinian Authority • Announcing the country’s first elections since 2006, when Hamas gained a foothold, will take place in September. As with just about everything with the Islamist Hamas group, things are tense, and they’re fighting the decision to hold elections, saying that they need to come after a reconciliation period between Hamas and the Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is currently not a part of the Palestine Liberation Organization,  and want the group to be restructured to include them. The two groups – Hamas and Fatah – fought a brief civil war in 2007 and since then have controlled different parts of the already-tension-filled country. Also today, Saeb Erekat, one of Palestine’s chief negotiators with Israel, resigned in the wake of the recent “Palestine Papers” scandal. source