In an exciting and unprecedented event, on Wednesday evening, at the last minute, fees were paid and the names of a bloc that would participate in the Jerusalem municipal elections were deposited. Despite the importance of this event, the distance until the election results are released on the evening of Monday 30 next month (October) is long and full of thorns and challenges. The order of drafting the electoral program may be withdrawn, changed, and returned. But it can be said that after 56 years of boycotting the unified municipal elections of Jerusalem, the taboos have been broken, and the internal dispute will be over the arrangement of names, programs and other matters, while the principle of Palestinian participation in Jerusalem has become a reality today.
There is still a long way for Maqdisi to become a member of a municipality, whose budget exceeds the budget of the entire Palestinian Authority. However, several matters must be clarified. The current Jerusalemite participation includes people from diverse social groups and geographical and gender distribution, but it is not a national or Islamic list and does not receive any sponsorship or support. Official from Ramallah, Gaza, or elsewhere, and this may be good, because the list and those in charge of it insist that their goal is service-based and not political, and that they support Palestinian constants, and want Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, and for Jerusalemites to be included in general elections, according to the Oslo Accords and other agreed-upon matters. on her.
The advantage of development finally comes from two things mainly: the absence of Jerusalem and its being ignored by everyone, despite giving the city endless verbal support. Regarding serious matters, such as budgets and others, there is nothing wrong with that. The matter applies to everyone, Palestinian, Arab and international, although there are exceptions to which the hat is raised, but in their entirety they do not amount to 1% of the real needs of Jerusalemites. It has become clear that talking about resilience will not work, without real funding for housing, education, the economy, tourism, culture, and others.
The other thing to break the taboo now is the growth of a certain class of professionals from the sons (and daughters) of historic Palestine, popularly called the Arabs of 1948. In this area, it is not surprising that the current movement is headed by a lawyer from Nazareth, and the membership of the list includes a doctor, and these professional jobs our people play in historic Palestine. They played a major role in filling it, because of their knowledge of the Hebrew language, their graduation from Israeli universities, and their knowledge of the ins and outs of matters in Israel.
Breaking a boycott that lasted 56 years requires an iron separation between politics and everyday matters. Perhaps at its peak is housing, which has suffered since 1967 from a systematic policy that prevents the development of any Palestinian neighborhood while working day and night to build large settlements for Israelis. The arrival of Jewish extremists in the municipality and in the government to decision-making positions, and their insistence on the systematic demolition of Jerusalemite homes, constituted a situation that no one could address. Therefore, participation in the municipal council has become more important than any negative matter related to the issue of unilaterally legitimizing the unified municipality in areas that the world still considers occupied.
The distance until any Jerusalemite performs effective work in favor of Palestinian steadfastness in Jerusalem is long, despite breaking the current taboo. The Palestinian intellectual difference means that participation in the elections will not be in such a large proportion that those who are elected will be able to form an opposition bloc or even a ruling bloc. The factional opposition to participation also resulted in the reluctance of many leaders with extensive experience, a strong presence, and a large following, which left the door open for the emergence of professional figures, representatives of clans, families, or social groups instead of political leaders. The absence of political figures may be useful in repeating the rejection of annexation, and describing the participants as only interested in everyday matters, which will reduce the political harm of this participation.
Jaafar Abdul Karim Al Khabouri
