THE announcement of the launch of the Democratic Caucus for the Palestinian territories of Ramallah and Gaza brings together five political forces along with other movements and independent civil society leaders.  

The five main organisations are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestine National Initiative — led by Mustafa Barghouti — FIDA and the Palestinian People’s Party.

The formation of the caucus reflects the need to take Palestinian politics beyond the contest for dominance between Fatah and Hamas and to create a third pole to reflect the growing will for change from the left and from Palestinians in general.

The Palestinian People’s Party has participated in this initiative from the beginning and done so as a minimum step — although not reflecting the ambitions of the party which would be to create a left front with a clear orientation on both political and social levels. 

The founding statement of the new caucus provides general national slogans which reflect this first step but do not yet offer a new, qualitative change in Palestinian political life in face of a comprehensive and general crisis.  

This crisis arises from the division between the West Bank and Gaza.  

It is a division which threatens to become complete after the failure of negotiations between the two entities, the breaking of international agreements by the Israeli and US administrations and the escalation of aggression against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.  

There has been no serious progress to end the siege of Gaza despite the terrible sacrifices made by the Palestinian people during three criminal wars launched by Israel against the Gaza strip over the past 10 years.

The concerns of the Palestinian People’s Party can be summed up as follows.

First, the PPP believes that the Palestinian arena needs a left-wing political stream with a clear basis and orientation and which has a political programme that addresses all the political issues facing the Palestinian people which have to be tackled to rescue its political system from its worsening crisis. 

Is this to be achieved by an immediate bid to renew the legitimacy of the Legislative Council and the presidency through national council elections which are themselves overdue? Or is it better to wait for the full maturing of conditions and for the entry of the remaining forces to the PLO through these elections?

Does the caucus have the political will to enter the elections with a single unified list — whether legislative, presidential, student or trade union — or will there be competition between its components as has happened previously?

Has there between sufficient reflection on previous experiences such as the contest by the Democratic Alliance in 2016-17 which failed? In particular, has there been sufficient consideration of the steps needed to integrate the new parties not in the previous coalition and which could increase the disparities of perspective?

Is there, in addition, an agreement among all members of the caucus to develop a united position on the need for a solution of the Palestine issue on the basis of international legitimacy of the UN resolutions and the two-state solution?

We in the Palestine People’s Party have a real desire and readiness to work for the success of this new initiative.  

However, we believe that every precaution has to be taken to prevent the fate of earlier initiatives overtaking the new initiative — especially in light of the important opportunity that will arise once the Legislative Assembly is dissolved and new elections are called. 

Will Hamas participate? Will Hamas allow elections to be carried out in Gaza? Will Israel allow elections in Jerusalem?  

These issues will present the caucus with difficult challenges — especially given the organisational need for consensus.

The Palestinian People’s Party will make every effort to win consensus on these issues among the main components, and especially the left forces, in order to ensure the success of the initiative.  

Failure will return us to square one and will increase frustration among the many forces on the left and prejudice any new attempt.