C. Political participation as means to obtain a political post or a job:
7. Affiliation with organization that deals with social issues or societies or unions:
1.11 Obstacles of political participation in Palestinian society
1.11.4 The Obstacles for the political participation in the Palestinian Society
1.11.5.1. Cultural / social obstacles:
The components of the Palestinian culture are similar to the general structure of the pan-Arab culture in terms of traditions, tribal customs. The Arab mentality is still traditional, based on the principle of inequality. The structural pattern of the Arab society affirms the authority of the ruling father, religious men, and other authority figures in the community; a patriarch. Barakat stated"The Arab society is one featured by personal, close social relations. The social relations
150
in the Arab community are still, and even in cities, primary group relations, which provide personalised, close, informal, and cooperative group ties from which the individual takes warmth, assurance, and through which he can totally be committed to relatives and close people in his life (Barakat, 1985:20).
The Palestinian political culture contains non-democratic traditional values such as the patriarchalism, membership tendency, and fatalist beliefs (Miari, 2003:28) which hinder effective political participation of citizens. The prevalence of parental values, submission to the tribe’s figureheads prevent many sons of the elites in the Palestinian governorates from being impervious from public opinion or consensus of the tribe leaders. The weak Palestinian Authority strengthens the tribal or clan power in the Palestinian society. The notice Robinson referred to was that"The clans and their sheikhs have great local influence but doesn’t reach the level of influence on the national level. This means that clan by its individual reputation to dominate or influence in the Palestinian national policies on a large scale. However, the clans or tribes gain political significance in two ways:
One way that clans and tribes may gain political influence, is by being an institution with its own members, and second, clans and tribes are used strategically and have great importance in electing, representatives in the same constituencies, when organizing the elections, on the basis of constituencies or when holding the local elections (Robinson, 2008:4).
Clans and tribes have played a role in the Palestinian society, regardless of the value of this role, the researchers interest in implications of presence of clans and tribes in Palestine;
forming a clan and tribe department in the PNA, appointing a PNA advisor to the head of Clan and Tribal Affairs, the government appointments which take into consideration the clan and tribal aspect, all these demonstrate and affirm the power of clans and tribes. The individual’s role and motivation to participate politically is weak but the clans and tribes are strengthened.
This pattern of loyalties differs in its intensity from one place to another or from time to time, however, it is a dividing factor which offers weakness or strength, in front of the power of the intellectual and political belonging. This patterns nevertheless, is similar to the patterns existing throughout the Arab world, where blood relations take precedence and that the tribalism still influence peoples political, social, and cultural relations. The tribalism coming from the relatives has an immediate correlation in the nature of the national and local belonging because
151
blood relations, classes, and tribalism influence how the Arab identifies himself. Firstly, he is the son of his family, then the son of his tribe and/or clan, then the son of his neighbourhood, then the son of his village, town or city; all before he identifies himself as a son of his country (Diab, 2005:7). The regional, tribal, and family considerations, being basic and important elements in forming the constituent of the political, cultural awareness, represent restrictions and hindrances to the active participation and political development (Qasem, 2009:13).
The Mass Institute survey revealed that the rate of participation in family activities in the West Bank is higher than participation in the political protest marches and demonstrations whereas, sometimes political activities associated with vocational trade unions reflect a national dimension, due to relations beyond the regional, local, tribe/clan or family, linking people together in a common relationship of belonging to a profession, for example: The family or birthplaces different from those upon which the political parties or the mass movements, unions or associations (Nasr & Hilal, 2007:79).
Sometimes the traditions and customs play a negative role, especially those related to women, as the Palestinian society is a male dominated community. The inherited, traditional culture is still a stumbling block in the way of women in actively participating in public life and enjoying all the rights of citizenship. The continuing traditional division of the roles between man and women, where women’s roles are almost limited to secondary ones, where the prevalent role for some Palestinian women never goes beyond being the family’s primary caregiver and the homemaker. Although the women’s job opportunities have expanded recently, some families prefer women work in traditionally female populated professions, such as teaching. This paternal outlook on women prevents them from participating in public life.
Within a culture that divides work on the basis of gender, political participation seems to be complicated and women’s participation in public life in Palestine was still in its beginning despite the abundant sacrifices Palestinian women have had through the Palestinian history.
On the party level, women represent 5% of the members of the central committee of Fatah, 4% out of the members of the high level offices of Fatah, and about 15% of total members of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and 15.5% out of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front. It is also notable that women generally do not enjoy leading in the front line positions of parties (Al-`Eelah, 2007:324). This is emphasized
152
through the data on the extent of women’s participation in national and governmental institutions (Qasem, 2009:20). See table No. (80).
There is a consensus among political scientists that a democratic culture includes notions of equality, justice, freedom, loyalty to society, readiness for participation, trust in others, accepting the concept of politics, intellectual pluralism, tendency to identify with the people of homeland regardless of their background, rejection of the centralization of power, and nominations based on merit and political worthiness (Al-Azar, 1996:44).
The subpar democratic climate in Palestine deters citizens from political participation. The Palestinian political culture does not promote political participation and Palestinians have become used to the pattern and culture. Al-Jirbawi says that,"The political culture the Palestinian people are used to is a non-participant culture, attributed to the succession of several powers imposed on the Palestinian people. These forces were foreign and never concerned with educating people rather, emphasis was placed on indentifying people with his duties towards these powers, without discussing his rights. In the final analysis, there is a weakness in the concept of citizenship (Al-Jirbawi, 1996:25).
When political participation is restricted to the election and nomination process, this is a sign that of subpar political participation and even lifestyle. In other words, the participation process is viewed as a seasonal process ending with the election, not taking into consideration any permanent, systematic political effort and continuing participation representing effective activity of the political parties and organizations of civil society (Qasem, 2009:17).