After the Palestinian social contract has weakened, many serious steps must be taken to revive it.
Written by: Ibrahim Sha’ban
The governing body, its legitimacy and its causes along with the ideas of philosophers and thinkers have been around for a long time. Some of them derived it from power in all its forms and others attributed it to wealth and power, while some of them referred it to resourcefulness, and their novices referred it to the family, tribe and city, regardless of the number of its inhabitants. But most of them were directed to the so-called social contract theory, which was advocated for by John Hobbs, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, despite their different books, understanding, motives, philosophy and ideas. Many thinkers followed them and adopted this intellectual approach to this day.
In later times, political, social and legal scholars have settled that the best approach to legitimately assign the ruling authority, regardless of its name, location and time of formation, is the establishment of a social contract between the ruler and the ruled. Hence, the governed waives some of his/her basic rights in order for the ruler to return an organization arranged under a governing authority. If the ruler violates these privileges, the ruled (the people) has the right to break the social contract with the ruler. This perspective was supported by many Islamic views, where they noted that the Islamic caliphate is only one of the forms of a social contract between the ruler and the ruled, where its acceptance by the people is due to their allegiance to the caliph. One of the firmest theorists of it was the late Egyptian scholar Abdel Razzaq Al-Sanhoury.
Additionally, there is not any disagreement that it is necessary to establish a social contract between the ruler and the people (the governed). This should have also applied to our future Palestinian Authority, which was not established by the will of the Palestinian people or through a social contract between the Palestinian people and the Palestinian ruler, but was established according to the Oslo Accords after 1994. They are international agreements in their simple, initial sense.
Despite the Oslo Accords and their repercussions and effects, I believe in the establishment of a social contract between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian people. Amongst the manifestations of this social contract were the holding of multiple Palestinian elections despite their restrictions regarding Jerusalem, the continuation of the judiciary in carrying out its work, the establishment of designated or elected municipalities to serve the residents of their cities, towns and councils, the establishment of professional unions and the free and direct election of their councils and the establishment of a Council of Ministers that draws up a local policy leaving the foreign policy to the president. Perhaps the establishment and enactment of a basic law with rights and freedoms was a millstone.
Over time, the Palestinian social contract began to fade and weaken in the Palestinian society, as it did not gain its stability, the ability to resist crises and protect the rights of the people. The first step affecting the Palestinian social contract was the absence of the Gaza Strip through its disengagement from it. It is not important to delve into the reasons and motives behind this, but it was decisive in influencing the Palestinian social contract.
As for the second step in weakening the Palestinian social contract was the failure to hold Palestinian presidential, parliamentary, municipal and union elections after the president and the Legislative Council had exhausted their temporal term of office, as well as municipal councils and unions. Whatever the reasons, motives and excuses, which can be created, withheld, invalidated and justified, there is no arguing that the Palestinian social contract has become stagnant. It is no secret to anyone that elections are the most important democratic way to choose the ruler. Without them, the Palestinian social contract declines, as they represent the people for a limited period of time only. This legitimacy can only be renewed by holding new, periodic elections.
The third step that affected the Palestinian social contract was the sector of justice, rights and freedoms (human rights). Despite raising human rights slogans, joining international human rights charters and the approval and enactment of the Basic Law in 2003, the Palestinian social contract was not pushed forward. It was rather pushed backwards. The justice sector, with its authoritarian constraints, has failed to keep pace with modern trends and concepts of public rights and freedoms, as it continued to entail outdated ideas that are based on individualism, lack of transparency, oversight and the right to obtain information. It moved away from exercising its powers that were granted to it by the law and allowed others to take them away from it, not realizing that they are being taken away from us. The justice sector did not even realize that the early social contract philosophers prevented the ruler from withholding these freedoms from the governed, that is, from the people. Those in charge of the Palestinian social contract were preoccupied with the concept of security more than the concept of freedom and individual well-being. The affairs of health, education and Jerusalem take second and unknown place in the face of Palestinian security in terms of funding and priority, which has harmed the social contract, as social solidarity has declined and the seeds of disunity, division and fragmentation have grown. Perhaps the establishment of laws related to Palestinian security will harm the social contract.
After the Palestinian social contract has weakened, many serious steps must be taken to revive it by adding new blood into this contract. One of the most important steps is maintaining Palestinian cohesion, including the Gaza Strip, the holding of presidential, legislative, municipal and trade union elections, accompanied or followed by a radical reform of the justice sector and working in accordance with the human rights charters and treaties that have been acceded to. Another necessary step is to adopt the concept of freedom for Palestinian citizens before the concept of authoritarian security at all levels, including the abolition of governorates and the position of the governor.
