A post-central committee scandal appears to have opened up a deep wound in Palestinian internal politics. The controversy was initiated when a draft of a presidential decree turning the PLO into an organ of the State of Palestine became public Feb. 19. The Ramallah-based presidential leadership quickly put out the storm that erupted by claiming that this was a mere recommendation by a legal adviser and that it was never issued nor was it published in the official gazette.

The reason for the storm is that the proposed idea reflects the fact that what was a leading revolutionary movement has become an organ of a yet-to-be-declared state. 

Hamadeh Faraneh, member of the PLO’s National Council, told Al-Monitor that the real problem is financial. “The PLO used to have serious funds that it was able to pass on to factions and activists, but now the PLO offices and state are funded by the Palestinian government.”

Hamadeh said that rich Arab countries like Saudi Arabia used to collect a 5% tax from Palestinian workers and then matched that amount twice. But this practice has stopped and the Saudis are no longer making such donations to the PLO. If anything, Saudi Arabia and others are now exclusively giving money to United Nations agencies working in Palestine to development projects there. A small amount of money is tranferred to the Palestinian government, but no money is being donated to the PLO.