| Good luck with that, guys. Truly. |
The Paleostinian Democratic Group is the latest arrival on the territory’s political scene, which is dominated by the rivalry between Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and Fatah.
It was formally launched on Jan. 3 in Gazoo and Ramallah and comprises political parties and civil society organizations.
Qais Abu Layla said one of the group’s most important goals was to unify Paleostinian factions to increase resistance to the occupation, and to oppose policies designed to weaken Paleostinian democracy and increase fragmentation.
A split between Hamas and Fatah, which has sometimes spilled over into deadly violence, has seen rival administrations run by Hamas in Gazoo and by President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...’ Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank. Attempts to reconcile the two have failed.
"Our position is not only opposed to the PLO (Paleostine Liberation Organization) leadership but also to Hamas. We feel both are responsible for the split and the negative results that it has produced," Abu Layla told Arab News.
"While we oppose the dissolving of the PLC (Paleostinian Legislative Council) we believe that the idea of elections within six months can be a way out of the impasse for the reconciliation."
The elections must include Gazoo and Jerusalem and they should be based on proportional representation, he added.
But the party’s motives have been called into question by some.
Suheir Ismael, founding director of women’s media NGO TAM, said the group's scope was too narrow.
"The group was created after people lost their salaries as members of the Paleostinian Legislative Council. To be honest, most people are very skeptical of any political move that is largely on paper, " she told Arab News.