Reframing Resistance after the Second Intifada Hanan Ashrawi
Executive Committee Member Palestinian Liberation Organization An Interview with Asya Igmen and Nikhita Mendis Providence, RI, 4 March 2015
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi is a distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she was elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009. As a civil society activist, she founded MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (1999) and continues to serve as head of its Board of Directors. In the same year, Dr. Ashrawi founded the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN). Moreover, she is the founder of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) and has served as its Commissioner since 1994.
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Brown Journal of World Affairs: The Palestinian and Israeli conflict has historically attracted immense international attention. Do you think that the spotlight has had more damaging effects on a possible solution of the conflict, or do you think it is necessary or even beneficial for positive developments? Hanan Ashrawi: Of course international attention is important, because people can die in the dark and nothing gets done about it. People don’t feel a sense of responsibility, which is what has happened in different places in the world, particularly in Africa. That’s why it’s important. For a long time the Palestinians Copyright © 2015 by the Brown Journal of World Affairs
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Hanan Ashrawi were excluded. They weren’t given the proper consultation. They were the victims of a situation and they were blamed for it. Israel was given a free hand to act with impunity and the Palestinians were deprived of the protection of the law. While we think that attention should be paid, we believe it should be paid in the right way. We had international attention when Palestine was placed under the British Mandate. That was the wrong kind of attention. We had attention when the UN resolved to create the state We need multilateralism as a tool to of Israel on 55 percent of reach a resolution, rather than siding historical Palestine and later with the occupier against the occupied. on when they allowed Israel to annex 22 percent more. So we’ve had international attention in which everybody was telling us, “You need to make a compromise and accept Israel on 78 percent of Palestine,” and finally, we said yes, so they launched an endless peace process that only managed to get the occupation to consolidate even further and to destroy the possibility of a two-state solution. So it’s not just any attention, it’s the right attention. We need to be protected by the law and we need multilateralism as a tool to reach a resolution, rather than siding with the occupier against the occupied. 94
Journal: In that vein, Palestine is due to receive official recognition as an International Criminal Court (ICC) member state in April. In what ways do you think that ICC membership will assist or hinder the Palestinian cause? Ashrawi: I think it’s very important because the ICC changes the prevailing logic or paradigm. It really is a shift in the sense that Israel has always been above the law, acted with impunity, and enjoyed legal immunity. And the Palestinians have been cast outside the law and deprived of the protection of the law. Therefore, it is this kind of imbalance that has enhanced the asymmetry of power and has empowered the occupation at the expense of the Palestinians. So going to the ICC is a game changer. When we joined the Rome Statute, it was precisely to say that “We are equal to other people, we deserve this protection” and to say that Israel has to be held accountable and in accordance with international law. You cannot constantly look the other way and enable settlement activities—which are a war crime—and enable the wars against Gaza, the killing of civilians, and the deprivation of Palestinians of all their rights. That was the beginning of a redress process where the prevailing wisdom, or lack of wisdom, in terms of the powerful, enjoys full accommodation for its violations, and the weak are constantly held responsible or blamed for their own victimization. This is changing
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Reframing Resistance after the Second Intifada now. We are now being punished because we went to international law. Israel is not only stealing our land and resources, but also our funds and our customs money, and the United States and Congress, of course, are threatening us with all sorts of things. I think this is a crucial game changer. It is a turning point. Journal: As the first woman elected to the Palestinian National Council, has your gender ever affected your political or activist work? Ashrawi: I was the first woman elected to the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] Executive Committee; there were many women in the Palestine National Council, Central Council, and Legislative Council. We’re a very small minority. Look, the one reason why I got elected and the one reason why I accepted to run is because the women mutinied. Do you know the story of how I was elected? It’s an interesting story because the Palestine National Council usually meets and then they elect members of the Executive Committee, which is the highest executive political party. And usually, because it’s made up of factions, the representative bodies, including unions and so on, come to agreements. Factions choose their own representatives, which come up with a consensus list, and that’s it. It’s been happening for years and it’s always been a male club, exclusively. And in the latest elections, we held a specific emergency meeting in order to elect six members to replace those who had passed away, so the Executive didn’t have a quorum. They went into the meeting and decided to come up with a list of six names and they went to the PNC and they said, “We have chosen these six names.” As usual, [there is an argument between] who is against, who is for, and then they get elected. The women refused, and they said, “No. We are not going to put up with thieves behind closed doors, and we want real elections. We want to have a woman candidate as our consensus candidate, regardless of their faction.” They mutinied against even their own leadership, and they asked me to accept a nomination on their behalf. And then some of the younger people and some of the trade unions and reformers also said that they would vote for me. So I reluctantly accepted, and I won the vote, but I never really thought at any time that I wanted to be a member of the Executive Committee. In a male-dominated society, a patriarchal society where the political system has always been predominantly male and quite often based on mistaken notions of tradition and power relations, women are excluded or are fought against in many ways. There have been many ways in which I have felt that men feel threatened that a woman is taking away what is “rightfully” theirs. So I had to
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Hanan Ashrawi have quite a bit of support from the women’s movement. I worked collectively. I refused to be used as a “superwoman syndrome” or as a justification to exclude other women; I wanted to open doors for other women. Journal: Could you discuss the current role and efficacy of civil society groups in advocating political action? Ashrawi: We have a very active civil society: diverse and powerful in many ways, with a long history because we didn’t have a government under the occupation. The principal organization was [made up of ] NGOs, civil society, and so on. Although there is now a competition between civil society, the public sector, and the government, civil society is still quite active. It is a safeguard for democracy, for women’s rights, for good governance, and for human rights. In many ways, it is a source for critical policy and intervention. It’s a connective force that also buttresses grassroots work. Palestinian civil society is quite dominant in many ways and quite active and very gratifying. I think right now we are beginning to see some sort of exclusion, some sort of control by the executive political elite, trying to exclude community leadership and grassroots and civil society leaders. 96
Journal: Do you feel like civil society groups have become depoliticized? Ashrawi: Unfortunately, in many cases, yes. It has robbed our political system of many of those individuals, skills, and talents that could really enrich the political system. And of course, people in the political system are very possessive and protective of their own rights. So I think that there should be a move on both sides—the political elite to open up and to have elections as well; and civil society to move beyond their role in civil society and to see whether they cannot just infiltrate [the political system], but have an impact on decision making. Because without them, decision making is not well informed. And I belong to both. I mean, all my life I have been in civil society, which is where I prefer to be. Journal: Why do you think we have not seen a third intifada, especially in terms of how relationships have developed since the Oslo Accords? Ashrawi: If you look at the intifada as a spirit of resistance, as a refusal to acquiesce, to succumb, the spirit that refuses to be broken, then we have an ongoing intifada all the time. But if you look at it only as acts of violence or overt resistance, then no [we do not have one]. Resistance comes in many different shapes
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Reframing Resistance after the Second Intifada and forms, and the Palestinians are always in a state of rejection of inequity, injustice, oppression, captivity, and enslavement of the occupation. And in different ways: building institutions is an act of resistance, staying on the land is an act of resistance, going to the UN is an act of resistance, joining institutions, international agencies, and If you look at the intifada as a spirit of resisso on. And also in popular and non-violent re- tance, as a refusal to acquiesce, to succumb, sistance, when we have then we have an ongoing intifada all the time. protests, marches, and civil strikes, and in creative ways, like the villages that are being built to defy the settler mentality and the land-theft of Israel to show that we haven’t accepted Israeli dictate and that we haven’t succumbed. We haven’t been broken in any way. So, it is a state of perpetual intifada that finds expression in different ways. But if you mean a dramatic sort of outright confrontation, there are many reasons, including the fact that we do have these [other forms of ] expressions, but they are sporadic or they are in different places. Against the wall, for example, or against the confiscations of land that are happening all the time. A massive move is a bit difficult due to geography, checkpoints, and fragmentation. You have to go through the army, and mobilization is a bit more difficult. At the 97 same time, there have been socioeconomic changes in Palestinian society that make it very difficult to mobilize people because there’s a lot to be lost. That is a whole new subject that has to be looked at. Journal: Can you elaborate on the mortgage economy that developed after Oslo? Ashrawi: It’s not just the mortgage economy; it is the sense that before Oslo there was the situation that people under occupation led simplistic lives. There were no privileges, no special classes. People survived on symbiosis, support, and community, and there were no significantly distinctive ostentatious displays of wealth or poverty and deprivation. [The situation has changed] with institution-building, the return of the PLO, the creation of the PA [Palestinian Authority], the emergence of classes that have privilege and money, and the monopolies, and so on. And then with the creation of a mortgage economy. Before it used to be that when you were in debt, it was shameful in Palestine, but now it is a question of buying your apartment or your house by mortgage and buying your car on installments. They created a whole new system, which carried with it social and economic change and also gave people something to lose. When it becomes a choice of your livelihood, your home, your children’s
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Hanan Ashrawi schooling, and so on, it’s more difficult to throw that away and say, “Okay, I’m going to do something that will jeopardize my whole economic well-being, my family’s well-being, and so on.” Journal: You mentioned at the beginning of this interview that you think the two-state solution is not feasible anymore. Could you elaborate on this statement? Ashrawi: I don’t say that with joy, frankly speaking, because Israel has deliberately acted in unilateral and illegal ways to destroy the two-state solution by superimposing greater Israel on historic Palestine. If you look, politically, there is still a global consensus that everybody is going to declare a two-state solution. In terms of the Palestinians, the PNC [Palestinian National Council] Resolution of 1988 has not been changed. We still are connected to the two-state solution. However, there is greater outspoken criticism of the two-state solution because they see that, on the ground, Israel is either destroying it or has succeeded in destroying it. So what do you do? What are the options? Do you now change your agenda and claim a one-state solution? Do you claim historical Palestine in the face of greater Israel? Do you ask for a binational state? Do you accept a de facto one-state solution? These actions are all very painful because you don’t 98 have allies; you don’t have takers. In many ways, it will play into the hands of the greater Israeli right-wing—who use power politics, coercion, militarism, and violence to create this greater Israel—which, in turn, means the Palestinians will be condemned to live under occupation for a long time; to see their land and resources stolen, their homes demolished, and so on. Lives are lost too, irreplaceable lives in Gaza. I worry when I talk about a one-state solution. I don’t see it happening because when we proposed it in 1969, it was a democratic, non-sectarian state. Now, Israel has created an exclusionary, oppressive state and is busy expanding T h e c h a n c e s o f a d e m o c r a t i c , and stealing [our] land and resources. The chances of a non-sectarian state or secular state are democratic, non-sectarian diminishing, while the reality of greater state or secular state, if you will, are diminishing, while Israel is materializing before our eyes. the reality of greater Israel is materializing before our eyes. The problem is a lack of accountability, Israeli impunity, American collusion, power politics, and ongoing victimization. So we do need to really address the situation and find ways of preventing further deterioration, because a breakdown in Palestine will certainly lead to the breakout of
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Reframing Resistance after the Second Intifada violence, but it would also lead to feeding more extremism. Others will use the cause for their own ends. It is unfortunate, and it’s a real historical dilemma now. To many people, the alternative to a two-state solution is a perpetuation of the occupation. We feel we deserve our freedom, we deserve to live in fresh air and sunshine away from the state of captivity. And then we can be engaged, if you want, as equals, rather than continue to be under the boot. Or, if Israel wants to continue talking about superimposing the greater Israel, then the discourse will shift to historical Palestine. It becomes an either-or situation. It becomes about exclusive legitimacies. That would mean that again it’s a situation of new types of confrontation. WA
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