The Palestinian is not a borrowed voice
An opinion article addressing the marginalization of Palestinians in the diaspora within Palestinian representative institutions, questioning their absence from leadership attention except when legitimacy is needed, and raising questions about the mechanisms for selecting community representatives in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, calling for fair and transparent representation.
An opinion article by Shadi Abu Sabha addresses the issue of marginalizing Palestinians in the diaspora within Palestinian representative institutions, specifically in the context of restructuring the Palestinian National Council. The article questions the PLO leadership's lack of interest in the daily lives and rights of diaspora Palestinians, while invoking them when legitimacy is needed. It refers to movements in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar to elect community representatives under arrangements that have sparked objections and questions about the criteria for their formation and the extent of community participation. The article calls for the diaspora community to be a partner in determining the rules of representation and selecting the electoral body, warning against elections that grant legitimacy to pre-arranged representation. It concludes by emphasizing that diaspora Palestinians are not marginal, and that legitimacy is not granted nor representation imposed.