A RECENT UN REPORT complains that the lack of reform in Arab nations could lead to chaotic social upheaval. The April 5th report refers to a study written by an independent group of leading Arab intellectuals, the conclusion of which is of particular relevance to the Palestinian territories.

On a recent visit to the Occupied West Bank, I got the chance to meet with a number of Palestinian politicians. One can see and hear almost everywhere that the Israeli occupation is not the only major problem the Palestinians face. Sad to say, the other enemy of the Palestinians is the Palestinians themselves. The mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and shortsightedness of many Palestinian leaders is outrageous and would have probably led to social upheaval years ago if it wasn’t for the occupying force on the other side of the “fence.”

Crossing the so-called green line between Israel and the West Bank the internationally recognized Eastern border of Israel dramatically illustrates the contrast between two realities. On the Israeli side, huge swathes of desert have been transformed into flourishing landscapes; cities and villages are clean and wealthy. On the Palestinian side, the desert is barren and bare, some goats here and there, some Bedouins living in shabby shacks.

None of the decades of international financial aid to the Palestinian people have been invested in projects serving the public interest. Palestinian cities and villages look like garbage heaps. “It is because the Israelis don’t provide a regular garbage collection,” one Palestinian says, trying to provide an explanation for the dirty streets and front yards while opening a package of cigarettes and throwing the plastic wrapper carelessly on the street.

Of course. The same old story: Blame it on the Israelis. It is so easy to blame them for every shortcoming in the Palestinian territories, but if you look behind the scenes, you will quickly realize that the Palestinians themselves are a cause of many of the shortcomings, mainly due to their authorities. Including garbage collection.

Under the Oslo agreement, in 1996, the Palestinians were able to freely elect a leader and a parliament of sorts, the Palestinian Legislative Council. They elected a couple of old Fatah guys for the PLC and Yasser Arafat for “president,” who decided shortly after the election that there was no need for further elections.

Only if the Palestinians keep up the image of poor-looking refugees will the world understand and support our battle against Israel.

We did not realize, until his death in December 2004, the extent of the failures that his regime left behind. He received billions of dollars not so much from oil-rich Arab states, but from the United Nations, the European Union and the US to ease the suffering of his people in refugee camps. Yet he preferred to spend the money arbitrarily for political purposes, including securing his own power, rather than addressing the needs of his people and securing their future. The amelioration of the conditions of ordinary Palestinians was never on his list.

“Because you would then take away the moral pressure against Israel,” explains Suleyman Abu Dayyeh, who is with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (anindependent German political foundation whose objective is to enhance democratic culture) in Ramallah. “Only if the Palestinians keep up the image of poor-looking refugees will the world understand and support our battle against Israel,” he says.

At least this was the ideology of Arafat and his authoritarian ruling Fatah party for decades. But as many of his other decisions proved already, this ideology of keeping the Palestinians poor was a shot in his own foot, so to speak. This is not my opinion. It is an opinion you can hear these days wherever you speak to politically involved Palestinians. Sure, the ordinary Palestinians on the street still show adoration for the late Arafat, but for those who supported him, the devastating political heritage of Abu Amar is turning more and more against them.

His successor, Mahmoud Abbas, even though having been in opposition to Arafat in the past years, faces strong opposition, not so much because of his conciliatory negotiations with the Israelis, but because he is now the top representative of Arafat’s Fatah/PLO. The Palestinian Legislative Council once elected was totally under the control of Yasser Arafat. After nine years in power, there are now forces within Palestinian political society that are pushing for new PLC elections.

“We hope new elections can be held in July,” says Hanan Ashrawi in a conversation with some colleagues and myself, but she is not sure. She also points to the “need for democratization within the Fatah party,” but leaves open to speculation what she really means by that.

Most of all she expresses her concerns about Hamas. “Look at Gaza,” she says, “there, more and more women under the influence of Islamists like Hamas are going to wear veils.”

Ashrawi, draped with thick golden necklaces, bracelets and heavy diamond rings, blames the Israeli hardliner Ariel Sharon for the rise of Hamas party in Gaza. What she fails to admit, however, is that leaders like her couldn’t care less about the poor in the refugee camps, except for misusing them in speeches full of hot air and attacks on Israel for selfish political purposes.

Hamas obviously takes better care of the poor and desperate. I may not like their armed tactics, but it is a fact that Hamas provides education, jobs, healthcare and charity in the Gaza strip as well as a rising number of communities in the West Bank.

No wonder Mrs. Ashrawi and company fear that with any election held in the near future, Hamas would win the majority of the votes for the next PLC. In principle, Dalal Salameh, one of the other five female members of the PLC, out of a total of 88 representatives, and also a Fatah member, agrees with Hanan Ashrawi. But Salameh is much more self-critical and appears to be a very decent woman.

Wearing a white headscarf and no makeup or glitter, she says: “Now, after Arafat is dead, we can find ourselves. Not until after his death [did we begin] to build our future.” While she underscores her words with affirmative hand gestures, one can see that her hands are covered in scars; hands that are used to doing hard labor. Salameh was born and raised in the Balata refugee camp.

“It is time to come back to our people and build a new relationship with them,” she tells me, “and the elections for the PLC should be held no later than August.”

One would wish to see hundreds more of those modest but determined Dalal Salamehs, but the Palestinians are still a male-dominated society. And for their leaders, it remains much easier to point to the US and the Israelis and blame them for everything wrong within Palestinian society than to face some facts in the interests of their own nation.

It is sad to see that the Palestinians, led for decades by a charismatic but devastating ruler, are dominated by conspiracy theories, corruption and all kinds of moral decay.

It’s no wonder that Islamists who care about traditional values are gaining ground.

There are even within the PLO some politicians who do not dare to speak out publicly who admit: “Maybe Hamas has to win the next PLC elections because then they would be forced to negotiate with the Israelis. And actually, only Hamas can make sure that there won’t be any further suicide bombings.”

Hearing this, maybe Hanan Ashrawi is right in her suspicion that it is ultimately in Sharon’s interest to do everything to discredit the government of Mahmoud Abbas and to play into the hands of Hamas.

It would be typical of the region, wouldn’t it? et