Conference of Palestinians Abroad rejects National Council appointments and demands inclusive elections
The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad holds an emergency meeting, rejecting National Council appointments and electoral colleges and demanding free elections that include Palestinians at home and in the diaspora.
Istanbul – FiMED
The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad held an emergency meeting on Friday under the slogan "Towards genuine national representation through an inclusive popular will.. No to appointment, no to exclusion", to discuss Palestinian developments, foremost among them the situation in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as the Palestinian National Council elections.
The conference's acting secretary-general, Hisham Abu Mahfouz, affirmed the organisation's rejection of appointments to the National Council, saying that forming the council in this way, in his view, bypasses the will of Palestinians at home and abroad.
Abu Mahfouz said the National Council should represent the inclusive framework for Palestinians, calling for it to be rebuilt on the basis of election and popular participation, and rejecting membership being tied to the decision of a single party or to political preconditions.
Rejecting "electoral colleges"
The conference renewed its rejection of the "electoral colleges" mechanism used in a number of countries to elect National Council representatives, saying it is no substitute for direct voting.
Abu Mahfouz said the conference would consider the National Council to have lost its legitimacy if, as he put it, it continues to be formed through appointment, exclusion and preconditions.
He also stressed the need to include Palestinians abroad in the electoral process, as part of the Palestinian people, and not to exclude them from the processes related to reconstituting national institutions.
Call to rebuild institutions
For his part, Siman Khoury, president of the Palestinian Union of Latin America (UPAL) and chair of the general assembly of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, said the current stage requires, in his view, a political formula that unites Palestinians, as the war in Gaza continues and developments unfold in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Khoury announced the union's support for free and inclusive National Council elections and for rebuilding Palestinian institutions on the basis of popular participation, while rejecting appointment, exclusion, quota-sharing, unilateralism and political preconditions.
He stressed that Palestinians in the diaspora, as he put it, are a fundamental component of the Palestinian people, calling for community representation not to be reduced to limited committees or meetings.
He also reiterated his rejection of the electoral colleges mechanism, saying the model adopted in Latin America does not, in his view, represent all Palestinian communities or reflect their electoral will.
Call for an "inclusive" Liberation Organization
Khoury called for the Palestine Liberation Organization to be restored to its role as, in his view, an inclusive national framework for Palestinians, and for building elected, accountable institutions and a leadership that draws its legitimacy from elections and popular participation.
The meeting comes as the reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council is the subject of debate over how members should be chosen, whether by election, appointment or electoral colleges, amid differing positions among Palestinian forces and communities on the most suitable formula for representing Palestinians at home and in the diaspora.
