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| THE STATE
from the |
THE PALESTINIAN public and leadership's enthusiasm towards a Palestinian state is quite understandable and well established. The ways to achieve this goal, however, seem to be difficult to understand. There are of course, several means and levels that need to be pursued on the road to accumulating achievements towards the realization of the independent Palestinian state. Some of these are symbolic while others are substantive.
For reasons that are difficult to understand, the Palestinian leadership has been concentrating mainly on symbolic steps and achievements in this regard. An example would be the concentration on the issue of the declaration of the state, what this would entail, and the preparations that are being carried out to this effect. A thorough look at what is going to happen if the state is declared brings us to the conclusion that, if it happens, it is only going to be a declaratory step that hasn't been possible until now for political and negotiation reasons. In the meanwhile, substantive measures and achievements are possible and actually necessary but are not being pursued by the Palestinian leadership. Strengthening the Palestinian economy and reducing its nature of dependency, building a viable and sound judiciary system and creating respect for the due process of law, improving services (especially health and education) and building and strengthening the democratic structure are all examples of substantive and possible steps that the Palestinian leadership can work towards on the practical road to realizing the independent Palestinian state. Nothing is being done in this regard and moreover, in some of these areas there is noticeable deterioration. In other words, the practices and policies of the Palestinian Authority are sometimes damaging to the necessary bases of the emergent independent Palestinian state. The best example would be the situation in the Palestinian education sector. Basic indicators show deterioration in educational services. The number of schools that have two or three teaching shifts in the same day and in the same building has increased this year. Similarly, the student-teacher ratio, as well as the number of students per classroom, has also gone up. Many universities could not start the new semesters because the Palestinian Authority had not transferred the funds already allocated to them in the annual budget. The problems of the education sector are significant in the process of state building because we are talking about the generations who will carry on this process in due time. While the political situation and the balance of powers are not allowing the Palestinian leadership to practically and officially establish an independent state, there is much that can be done to bring us nearer to this objective. It would be useful if our Authority invested some time and effort into utilizing what is already in its hands rather continuing only to talk about the intention to do so. Published 20/9/0 ©Palestine Report |