27.7.07

What next?

Today the inquiry commission into the events of Gaza submitted its report to the President. The comission's spokesman, told us all what we already knew: "The basic structure of the security apartus is wrong and useless and unreliable and work will start now to change this rule." I will not attack the professionalism of the report. Afterall, the commission was largely unprofessional and highly politicised: 4 politicians and a general.
What I seek to understand, and lead you to question, is if the commission actually did its job? Or was it really a post-mortum report that was written to commend the steps taken by the president?
The first question that comes to mind relates to the person who holds the responsibility for what happened to Gaza. In my opinion, the head of the political system, in all what he did and did not do, is largely responsible. So, did the commission start by questionining the president? Very unlikely since the head of the commission was his chief of staff.
When the Palestinian people gave Abbas 64% of their votes and made him president, they wanted a leader. Despite the fact that Hamas seems to me largely responsible for the mess, we still have the right to know what the president did to stop this from happening. The investigation is not about if he was responsible for the coup, but rather if he fulfilled his duties in trying to stop it.
Secondly, the report was written on an issue that is so critical to the whole Palestinian people, it is our right, and their duty, to let us know every finding of this report. Saying that we had a commission and report and holding a press conference is just not sufficient. The idea of having a government is to protect the people from such happenings, and in case of government failures, the people have to know the details of this failure. This is ABC of democratic governance.
More importantly is what will happen next? The commission has acknowledged that its mandate was insufficient. It was asked to investigate what happened in Fatah and the security forces, but the event is one of national consequences and not just in relation to the party, unless Fatah sees itself as one with the PA (which was the case during the years up to 2006).
There is a need for a national inquiry. This, however, is only possible when there is one authority and not two. All, should be brought to questionning, and such commission should be independent, experienced and professional.
The report indicates that the security apartus have turned into semi-feudal groups, and that its findings should be used to build a modern security aparatus. We would love to see this happening, two questions however : is Syria's secret police modern? and, when?

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