ICSPR: Rebuilding the Palestinian National Council Is a National Responsibility That Must Not Become a Means of Entrenching Exclusivity and Exclusion
Date: September 10, 2026
Press Statement
ICSPR: Rebuilding the Palestinian National Council Is a National Responsibility That Must Not Become a Means of Entrenching Exclusivity and Exclusion
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) follows with grave concern the developments concerning the reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), as well as the discussions and procedures surrounding mechanisms for selecting and representing Council members in Palestine and the diaspora. This comes amid reports of the adoption of different electoral arrangements in several locations where Palestinians reside, including the use of electoral colleges or selection mechanisms that do not necessarily allow all Palestinians within those communities to participate. ICSPR considers that this issue goes beyond disagreements over procedures or the distribution of seats; it touches upon the core of Palestinian national legitimacy and the nature and role of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the overarching national framework representing the Palestinian people. This requires the issue to be addressed with the highest degree of national responsibility, بعيدًا عن الفصائلية and attempts to reproduce existing balances of power within the institutions of the PLO.
ICSPR emphasizes that the Palestinian National Council is not a private institution belonging to a leadership, faction, or authority. Rather, it is a representative institution of the Palestinian people in all places of their presence. Renewing its legitimacy must be based on the will and free participation of Palestinians, in accordance with the PLO Basic Law, which establishes elections—not appointment, closed-door arrangements, or unilateral procedures—as the foundation for representation. While ICSPR recognizes the objective difficulties that prevent direct elections from being held in some Palestinian communities due to the geographic dispersion of the Palestinian people, such difficulties should not become a pretext for perpetuating appointments, imposing representation from above, or excluding Palestinian political forces and figures. Instead, they should serve as an incentive to reach agreement on exceptional, temporary, transparent, and democratic mechanisms that ensure the broadest possible participation and preserve Palestinians’ right to choose their representatives, ultimately leading to direct and comprehensive elections.
ICSPR further recalls that it previously put forward a practical proposal for holding elections for the Palestinian National Council in Palestine and the diaspora through electronic voter registration and voting, as an option that could accommodate the geographic and demographic realities of the Palestinian people and help overcome significant obstacles that may prevent Palestinians in certain countries from participating. ICSPR believes that digital transformation can provide a genuine opportunity to expand the participation base and enable Palestinians in different places of residence to register and vote directly, provided that the electronic system is subject to strict standards of integrity, confidentiality, data protection, and voter identity verification; operates under the supervision of an independent electoral body; and is subjected to technical and legal auditing, oversight, and testing to ensure confidence in its results. Accordingly, the inability to conduct traditional elections in some countries should not automatically lead to appointments, as more inclusive and equitable democratic alternatives can be developed, foremost among them secure electronic voting, or any other mechanisms agreed upon by Palestinians that guarantee their right to participation and representation.
ICSPR stresses that the unity of the Palestinian people in Palestine and the diaspora requires unity of the right to political participation and national representation. Palestinians in the diaspora are not merely a numerical bloc added to the composition of the Palestinian National Council; they are an integral part of the Palestinian people and of the national decision-making process. Therefore, any arrangements for reconstituting the Palestinian National Council must ensure the participation of Palestinian political forces, communities, popular unions, institutions, national figures, and independent personalities in developing mechanisms for representing Palestinians abroad, while taking into account the specific circumstances of each community without allowing such particularities to become a gateway to exclusion or appointment. In this context, ICSPR reaffirms its previous positions rejecting the reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council through appointments or merely formal, undemocratic electoral mechanisms in the absence of transparent and fair rules of representation—an issue that raises legitimate concerns that must be heard and addressed through responsible national dialogue.
ICSPR considers that the crisis facing the Palestine Liberation Organization is not a crisis of seats or individuals, but rather a crisis in the rules governing the production of legitimacy, mechanisms of participation and accountability, and the renewal of institutions. Therefore, re-electing the Palestinian National Council should be an opportunity to rebuild the PLO on the foundations of democracy, pluralism, and national partnership, rather than an occasion to reproduce exclusivity or exclude different political and societal forces. ICSPR warns against turning political disagreement into a means of exclusion from national representation, or using popular unions, Palestinian communities, and societal frameworks to produce predetermined political representation. Institutional accountability must be based on law and fair procedures, and political differences must not become grounds for depriving anyone of the right to national participation.
ICSPR emphasizes that the circumstances facing the Palestinian people—including the genocidal war, forced displacement, colonial annexation, settlement expansion, and attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause—make restoring the unity of national institutions and renewing their legitimacy an urgent political and human rights necessity, rather than a luxury that can be postponed. It is unacceptable for these exceptional circumstances to become a justification for obstructing popular participation or imposing unilateral arrangements within an institution that is supposed to represent all Palestinians.
Accordingly, the International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) calls for halting any contentious steps concerning the reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council and opening an inclusive national dialogue involving political forces and factions, popular unions, Palestinian communities, institutions, independent figures, representatives of Palestinian communities, youth, and civil society in Palestine and the diaspora. The aim should be to agree on clear, unified, and transparent rules for re-electing the Palestinian National Council and rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization.
ICSPR renews its call for the adoption of free, fair, and inclusive elections as the fundamental means of renewing national legitimacy, and for the development of fair democratic solutions for communities where direct elections cannot be conducted. Logistical difficulties or restrictions imposed by certain states should not be treated as an automatic justification for appointments. ICSPR also calls for serious consideration of its proposal for electronic voter registration and voting through an independent, professional national committee comprising experts in elections, law, technology, and information security. Such a committee should assess the feasibility of implementing the proposal in stages, testing it, and ensuring its integrity, alongside reactivating and democratically electing popular unions and Palestinian communities and involving them in the rebuilding of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
In conclusion, ICSPR emphasizes that Palestinian national legitimacy cannot be built on exclusivity and exclusion, cannot continue through appointments, and cannot be reduced to the will of a single political actor. The strength of the Palestine Liberation Organization is not measured by the leadership’s ability to control its institutions, but by its ability to represent the Palestinian people in all their diversity and across all places of their presence. Accordingly, the re-election and reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council must serve as an entry point for rebuilding trust, legitimacy, and national partnership; utilizing democratic and modern technological tools to expand participation; and moving from a model in which “the leadership chooses who represents the people” to one in which “the people choose who represents them, and institutions hold the leadership accountable.” This would restore the PLO’s position as an inclusive national framework, protect Palestinian national decision-making from exclusivity, external interference, and tutelage, and strengthen the Palestinian people’s ability to confront the projects of occupation, displacement, annexation, and the denial of their national rights.
