Summary
The Palestinian parliament, or legislative branch, to which all Palestinian agencies including the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Fund are accountable; the council sets forth broad policy, and its deliberations in Cairo in spring 1977 are Said’s second experience of what political effectiveness means.
Details
- The Palestinian National Fund is accountable to the Palestinian National Council, which fulfills the function of a parliament or legislative branch; the council sets forth broad policy, the responsibility of implementing which falls to the PLO and its various agencies, and the Palestinian budget effectively pays for services, supplies, training and armaments for approximately a million people (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.187 / printed p.166).
- After the 1974 Palestine National Council meeting, and more affirmatively after the 1977 meeting, the Palestinians had resolved upon a state, although a minority position still argued for complete liberation (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.190 / printed p.169).
- Said participated as a member in the council’s deliberations in spring 1977: meeting in Cairo in the Arab League building, the council numbered about 290 delegates, about 150 West Bank members not present because Israel would not have let them return home if they attended; for a week of open discussion the real subject was how well the PLO, the executive to the council’s legislative branch, did (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.199 / printed p.178).
- Among the internal shifts since the council’s last meeting in 1974 were the decisions to opt for a state alongside Israel and to begin to meet with the Israeli doves who had expressed support for Palestinian rights; the PLO, its executive committee and Yasir Arafat came in for heavy, minute, critical scrutiny, in a totally democratic debate Said says no Arab country permits (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.199 / printed p.178).
- The PLO’s capability of defining the shape of its self-determination follows lines spelled out in the last three Palestinian National Council meetings of 1974, 1977 and 1979 (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.218 / printed p.197).
Related pages
The Question of Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat, Fateh