THE sumud or steadfastness of the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank has been severely tested in recent months, not only by the actions of Israel but also by the activities of their national authority elected in January of this year.
A majority of Palestinians no longer have confidence in the ability of their leaders to deliver the self rule in Gaza and the West Bank promised in the Oslo accords. The Israeli occupation remains in 40 per cent of Gaza and 95 per cent of the West Bank and the Palestine Authority (PA) has not challenged Israel's unilateral annexation of Arab East Jerusalem.
Indeed, instead of resisting Israeli demands for the closure of three Palestinian institutions located in the city, the Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, moved the institutions to areas under PA control.
Palestinians have become increasingly frustrated because the last Israeli troops redeployment within the West Bank, from Ramallah, took place as long ago as December 28th last year, and the pull out from the last West Bank town, Hebron, has not yet been arranged, although it was scheduled for March 28th this year. Without progress the peace process has no credibility.
Mr Arafat's call for mass protests in response to the Israeli opening of the tunnel adjacent to the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on September 23rd, and the subsequent shooting matches between Palestinian police and the Israeli army, recouped the President's popularity for a time.
But the way Mr Arafat has conducted the long drawn out negotiations over Hebron has undermined this surge of popularity and given rise to suspicions over the extent of Palestinian concessions to Israeli "security".
These suspicions have been deepened by Mr Arafat's modus operandi. A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council told The Irish Times that Mr Arafat changed his negotiating team from time to time so no one, excepting Mr Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen, Mr Arafat's deputy) and himself, "has the full picture. The council is not briefed on the negotiations. He keeps everything secret."
Although the council has been assured the Palestinian team is "not negotiating a new agreement" but only securing a "timetable" for the implementation of the existing accords, the more protracted the talks, the more profound becomes the suspicion that the Palestinian team is, in fact, renegotiating the accord signed on September 28th, 1995. Councillors feel the Palestinians are being "sold out", the source said.
Fearing the worst, the leading secular opposition figure, Dr Haidar Abdel Shnfi, of Gaza, called upon Mr Arafat to suspend negotiations with Israel until all signed agreements were implemented in full.
In November, the council tabled several no confidence motions against the PA because it had taken no action on decisions of the legislature students from Bir Zeit University in Ramallah protested against the detention of five of their number suspected of being members of the Islamic opposition; key councillors from Mr Arafat's own Fatah movement were openly critical of his policies.
But the executive and cabinet ignored all demonstrations of displeasure. Mr Snlnh Tamari, a representative of Bethlehem, asserted, "Palestinian citizens complain to us. But we must not reach a point where we as council members can also do nothing but complain."
Mr Arafat has eased up on Islamic activists and refused to meet Israel's demand of shutting down the "Hamas infrastructure", so the movement's schools, clinics and social centres continue to operate.
However, he has not engaged the moderate Hamas local leadership in dialogue as promised two months ago in exchange for assurances that Hamas's military wing would not make attacks on Israelis.
Mr Arafat has also, apparently and for the moment, eased up on the media, permitted new newspapers to function and granted a measure of freedom of expression. But he can count on the automatic, unquestioning support of the 70,000 employees of the PA - and their families, which add up to 400,000 to 500,000 persons - and he retains nine or 10 security agencies which can be activated at any time against his critics, who have become legion.
