Saturday 18 February 2006. Preparations for the first session of the new Palestinian Legislative Council are complete. Traditionally, the oldest member of the newly elected council heads the inauguration session, while the youngest acts as secretary. Hamas’s Abdul Fateh Dukhan head the session, with the Movement’s 30-year-old Mushir Al Masri being his secretary.

Dukhan’s tasks in that session included overseeing internal PLC elections. Dr. Aziz Dweik from Hamas’s “Change and Reform Bloc” was elected as speaker of the PLC, while Dr. Ahmed Bahar and Dr. Hasan Khreisha were chosen as Dweik’s deputies.

Few weeks earlier, Hamas had scored a sweeping victory in the second round of Palestinian elections, winning the ballot by an overwhelming majority and securing 74 of the Council’s 132 seats; a development that had everyone asking “what next”?

As the name indicates, Hamas’s electoral list promised Palestinians change and reform. Hamas’s victory pointed out that people were tired of a decade of corruption, lack of strategy, and open-ended negotiations with the Israeli occupation which had yielded a big zero. 

However, the Israeli occupation as well as other parties vetoed the new developments. Soon, a third of PLC members will be thrown in Israeli prisons, including the Council’s president and his second deputy, effectively paralyzing the Council. A year later, in 2007, the Change and Reform bloc was banned by the occupation authorities, and in 2008 PLC member and Hamas leader Said Siyam was assassinated by the Israeli occupation. Today, 7 PLC members remain in Israeli prisons.

The international community reneged on its promises to respect the outcomes of democracy. Sanctions were imposed to force the newly-appointed Palestinian government to recognize the Israeli occupation and engage in the futile process of negotiations. Today, and merely by keeping silent, the international community remains an accomplice in the Israeli crimes and siege against Palestinians.

Further, in a bid to strengthen their monopoly over the Palestinian decision, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas as well as members of the Palestinian faction Fatah sought to disable the PLC’s supervising and legislative roles. Fatah boycotted the Council’s second session, while the PA’s security apparatuses took it upon themselves to close the PLC building and prevent holding any sessions.

Today, the PLC remains disabled due to an Israeli veto and the lacking of political will on part of president Abbas, despite several agreements to bridge the Palestinian rift and set a date to new elections.