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Who Are the Legitimate Representatives of the Palestinians?
(National Post-Canada) Lawrence Solomon - Yasser Arafat created the concept of an Arabic "Palestinian people" in the 1960s. But Arafat never forged a united people. Few Palestinians identify chiefly with a national identity; their loyalty instead is clan-based. Palestinians pledge loyalty to their clan in a formal code of honor backed by local militias. Clan-based systems of governance do not lend themselves to nation states. Little surprise, then, that after Arafat died, civil war broke out and Gaza broke off from the West Bank to form its own statelet. The chance that the Western powers can make the Gazan clans and West Bank clans unite in peace and harmony is close to nil. Those who propose a two-state solution are more realistically contemplating a three-state solution - Israel, Gaza and the West Bank - since the Muslim Brotherhood is unlikely to give up its Gaza power base. The weaker the Palestinian Authority becomes, the stronger the clans become in relation, allowing them to reassert their authority, and thus appoint legitimate representatives to negotiate a settlement with the Israelis.