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Elections Archive - July 2007
Elections Archive - July 2007
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for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Elections Archive - July 2007 |
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We must take advantage of favourable conditions to make headway in the peace process, says PM Fayyad Ma’an News Agency 7/31/2007 Gaza – Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday stressed the necessity of taking advantage of the currently available opportunities to move forward in the peace process. Speaking to the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, he said "we should do our best to achieve positive results in the peace process." Regarding his government’s platform, which eradicates armed struggle; he said "the platform starts with ending the occupation, including any efforts." In respect to the elections, Fayyad stated "what we are looking for is reaching stability and security in the Palestinian territories, especially after what occurred in the Gaza Strip." He confirmed that it is important to have the Palestinian Authority’s legitimacy restored in Gaza. Fayyad expressed his gratitude for the role the Egyptians are playing in supporting the Palestinian cause. An-Najah University’s Center for Opinion Polls releases poll on the current Palestinian political situation Ma’an News Agency 7/29/2007 Gaza – Ma’an – Today, the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies (COPSS) from the An-Najah National University, published the results of the 29th Palestinian Public Opinion Poll. The COPSS poll focused mainly on the political situation after the Hamas take-over of the Gaza Strip, the possibility of early elections for the Presidency and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the decrees President Abbas has issued, by which he dissolved the unity government, declared a state of emergency, and formed the caretaker government. The poll included 1361 people, aged 18 and above, who have a right to vote. The questionnaire was distributed among 861 people in the West Bank, and 500 people from the Gaza Strip. Abbas to alter voting laws to exclude Hamas R. P, International Middle East Media Center 7/27/2007 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated on Thursday that he plans to alter voting laws, a move that will make it more difficult for Hamas to win legislative elections. Abbas, speaking yesterday from his headquarters in Ramallah, said that he would issue decrees amending the existing electoral law so that parliamentary seats are only contested by national party lists. "I will use Article 43 of the Basic Law, which gives me the power to make those changes, to change the electoral law to a single national list instead of having two lists, one national and one by constituencies," Abbas stated. Under the current law, half of the seats are allocated to parties based on their share of the national vote, and half are allocated to local constituencies. Spanish delegation impressed with Hamas’s good job in Gaza; deplores US stand Palestinian Information Center 7/26/2007 GAZA, (PIC)-- A Spanish delegation representing civil society institutions and labor syndicates in the northern Spanish Basque region was impressed with the efforts exerted by Hamas Movement to ensure security and stability in Gaza Strip. The delegation that was received by a delegation from Hamas Movement in Gaza city Wednesday also expressed satisfaction with the freedom granted by Hamas Movement to every Palestinian individual in the Strip after the Movement took responsibility for security there in mid June. Furthermore, the Spanish delegation deplored the USA and the EU stands towards Hamas Movement, affirming that those stands weren’t justified; especially that Hamas Movement had won very clean and democratic elections in the PA, making it the real democratic choice of the Palestinian people. Associates of PM Fayad planning alternative to Fatah and Hamas Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 7/28/2007 A group of Palestinian politicians, business people and other key political players have been working in recent weeks on an initiative to form a new political movement that would not be affiliated with either Fatah or Hamas. Several more prominent supporters of the idea are considered close to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad and PLO Executive Committee member Yasser Abed Rabbo. On the eve of the last PA elections, in January 2006, Fayad, Hanan Ashrawi, Abed Rabbo and others formed a new party, called "The Third Way," but it won only two seats. With the possibility of new elections looming, the latest alternative incarnation would seek to capitalize on the negative images of both Fatah and Hamas among the Palestinian public. Haneyya: We are advocating national dialogue, keen on preserving human rights Palestinian Information Center 7/26/2007 GAZA, (PIC)-- The prime minister of the legitimate PA caretaker government Ismail Haneyya has affirmed that his government was and still is advocating inter-Palestinian national dialogue as the only solution to end the current political standoff in the Palestinian arena. Haneyya’s remarks came during a meeting with a delegation from the Euro-Mediterranean committee for Human Rights at his Gaza office Tuesday where he also affirmed the keenness of his government on preserving and protecting human rights in Palestine. He also affirmed to the delegation that Hamas, out of its concern on preserving national unity, had called for PA unity government after it reaped majority of the PLC seats in the legislative elections although it was able to form the government alone. Abbas Says Close to Calling New Polls Mohammed Mar’i & Hisham Abu Taha, MIFTAH 7/27/2007 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that he was close to calling new legislative and presidential elections. Abbas said last week that he wanted to hold a new vote following Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has said it will boycott new elections. In a speech to a visiting US delegation yesterday, Abbas said he would soon order the elections. “The time has come for us to issue the required decrees for early elections,” he said. Abbas did not say when he would issue the decrees or give a date for the vote. Abbas’ aides have said they expect elections by early 2008. Calling for the elections is sure to deepen the rift with Hamas. Abbas said Gaza would be included in the elections, underlining his claim to be the legitimate authority of all Palestinians. Palestinian president to alter voting law Middle East Online 7/27/2007 Constitutional experts question Abbas’s right to amend constitution by decree without parliamentary approval. - RAMALLAH, West Bank - President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would decree a change in Palestinian electoral rules that might make it harder for Hamas to maintain the parliamentary majority they won last year. However, pressed to say whether the early elections that he has promised would be held as soon as this year, Abbas said he could not set a date yet. Nor could he yet say whether he would run himself for re-election as president. In an interview at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said parliamentary and presidential elections must be held simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- a condition that leaves the timing uncertain, given the opposition of Hamas leaders who seized control of Gaza from Abbas’s forces in June. Elections committee informs Abbas that they are technically ready for early elections Ma’an News Agency 7/27/2007 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with a delegation from the central elections committee in his presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday. General Secretary of the committee, Dr Rami Amin, announced that the committee is ready for early elections, following 100 days from a presidential decision to call them. Amin added that the prevailing Palestinian situation is unprepared for early elections immediately, especially given that Abbas has not as yet called for them." The president was clear during the meeting that this matter is still under consideration, although we are technically ready for elections," said Amin. [end] Ma’an survey finds majority of Palestinians would vote in early presidential elections Ma’an News Agency 7/27/2007 Bethlehem – Ma’an – An online survey conducted by Ma’an Arabic website found that a majority of Palestinians would support early presidential elections. Of nearly 57,000 respondents to the unscientific poll,, 67% said that they will cast their vote, 31% said that they would abstain from voting and around 2% were unsure. [end] Abbas wants talks with Israel, but not dialogue with Hamas Ma’an News Agency 7/26/2007 Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his refusal to negotiate with the Hamas movement as long as they maintain what he sees as illegal control over the Gaza Strip. Abbas also expressed hope that there will be a "comprehensive peace with the Israelis within one year." Speaking to the press in his Ramallah headquarters Thursday morning, Abbas said that although a date for a poll has not been set, "There is a wish and a decision to have early elections." Abbas spoke to reporters after meeting with Yossi Beilin, head of the left-wing Israeli Meretz Party. Abbas said he ready to proceed with peace talks, but he said, "We are still waiting for the Israelis to agree on the issue." In an interview to be published tomorrow in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Abbas expressed his belief that United States President George W. Bush... Abbas planning to amend PA electoral rules to hamper Hamas Reuters, Ha’aretz 7/27/2007 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would decree a change in Palestinian electoral rules that might make it harder for Hamas to maintain the parliamentary majority they won last year. However, pressed to say whether the early elections that he has promised would be held as soon as this year, Abbas told Reuters he could not set a date yet. Nor could he yet say whether he would run himself for re-election as president. In an interview at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said parliamentary and presidential elections must be held simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - a condition that leaves the timing uncertain, given the opposition of Hamas leaders who seized control of Gaza from Abbas’s forces in June. Fayad’s pals plan alternative to Fatah, Hamas Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 7/26/2007 A group of Palestinian politicians, business people and other key political players have been working in recent weeks on an initiative to form a new political movement that would not be affiliated with either Fatah or Hamas. Several more prominent supporters of the idea are considered close to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad and PLO Executive Committee member Yasser Abed Rabbo. On the eve of the last PA elections, in January 2006, Fayad, Hanan Ashrawi, Abed Rabbo and others formed a new party, called "The Third Way," but it won only two seats. With the possibility of new elections looming, the latest alternative incarnation would seek to capitalize on the negative images of both Fatah and Hamas among the Palestinian public. Israel, PA resume West Bank civil co-ordination severed in Jan. Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 7/27/2007 Israel and the Palestinian Authority completed preparations Wednesday for renewed coordination in civil administration functions between the two sides during a short ceremony in Qalqilyah. Over the past two weeks, work resumed in all the West Bank cities, after ties between Israel and the PA were severed following the Hamas victory in the January 2006 Palestinian elections. The swearing-in of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad’s government gave the green light for a resumption of cooperation on the civil and security levels. On the Palestinian side, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas appointed Hussein al-Sheikh to run the Civil Affairs Administration, responsible for coordination with Israel in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Hamas, Fatah in Stalemate Iin West Bank Ben Hubbard, MIFTAH 7/25/2007 When the Nablus City Council met for the first time after Gaza’s violent takeover by Hamas, the only thing its members from rivals Hamas and Fatah didn’t haggle over was ordering kunafa, the sticky pastry their city is famous for. The heated five-hour session reflected an uneasy new stalemate in the West Bank since the fall of Gaza to Hamas. Fatah is pushing hard to restrict Hamas’ influence, but the Islamists, who have won control of several key towns in local elections since 2005, are too deeply rooted in Palestinian society to be sidelined easily. "You can disagree with them (Hamas), you can criticize them and say they carried out a coup in Gaza, but you can’t just make them leave," said Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian journalist. That’s the reality Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement have come up against in the past month. Palestinian parliament in deadlock Al Jazeera 7/23/2007 The Palestinian parliament has again failed to convene, further adding to the political stalemate between Fatah and Hamas. Legislators on Sunday were due to vote on the interim government of Salam Fayyad, appointed prime minister by the president after violent in-fighting left Hamas in effective full control of the Gaza Strip last month. Citing the continued deadlock, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, plans to issue decrees this week calling for early parliamentary and presidential elections over objections from Hamas. The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), a 132-member body representing the West Bank and Gaza, requires 67 members present to form a quorum. Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera’s correspondent, said less than half the required politicians turned up for the session in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. Paralysis in the Palestinian Parliament Ghassan Bannoura & John Smith, International Middle East Media Center 7/23/2007 Over the weekend, the Palestinian legislative council failed to convene once more and as such, did not vote on the legitimacy of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s government. On Sunday, in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, less than half the required MP’s turned up for the session leading to failing it. The Palestinian legislative council consists of 132 members from the West Bank and Gaza strip, and needs at least 67 members to be present in order to possess a legal quorum. Hamas won the majority of the PLC seats in the elections of 2006, after securing the election of 74 members. Since the elections, Israeli has kidnapped 45 Hamas legislators. Rather than Hamas boycotting Sunday’s session, it was the Fatah movement and other parliamentary blocs loyal to Salam Fayyad’s government that refused to attend,... Boycott by Fatah MPs foils bid to "okay new Fayad PA gov’t" Reuters, Ha’aretz 7/22/2007 Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad had to abandon his attempt to present his government for a confidence vote on Sunday when his own supporters boycotted the session over a dispute with Hamas. [or to prevent a vote of no confidence - Ed. ] Citing the continued deadlock, Abbas plans to issue decrees this week calling for early parliamentary and presidential elections over objections from Hamas, which won parliamentary polls last year. "I wanted to present my government to the legislative council (parliament) in line with the law, but apparently it has failed to implement this constitutional duty," Fayad said. Sunday’s boycott was led by Fatah and other factions which support Fayad but dispute the legality of Hamas’ call for the session to be held. Abbas’s secular Fatah faction and Hamas Islamists, who seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody takeover... The situation will change and elections will be held in Gaza, says Abbas advisor, Nabil Amr Ma’an News Agency 7/21/2007 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian President Abbas’s advisor, Nabil Amr, declared on Friday that "the situation in the Gaza Strip will be changed within the coming weeks or months, for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority, which will enable us to arrange elections." He made the statement in a response "to those who doubt the possibility of elections in the Gaza Strip". Speaking to the London based daily Al Hayat, Amr said "they in Hamas have banned themselves from being members of the PLO, we have no relation with them any more. They have cut all ties with Fatah, we don’t want to have any dialogue with them." Amr said that he still believes that there is a possibility to return to dialogue if Hamas proves willing to return the situation in the Strip "as it was before the coup and to apologize for what... PFLP in western Gaza Strip hold their fourth conference Ma’an News Agency 7/21/2007 Gaza – Ma’an – The PFLP in the western Gaza Strip held their fourth general conference on Friday, in order to elect new leadership. The conveners discussed the political situation and the PFLP’s attitudes and aspirations towards an active role in the Palestinian arena. A new leadership was successfully elected, with one woman elected as a deputy district leader, through democratic and transparent elections. Delegates for the Gaza Strip conference were also elected. [end] PLO central council approves early elections R. P, International Middle East Media Center 7/20/2007 The central council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) concluded a two-day meeting yesterday with a largely symbolic endorsement of President Mahmoud Abbas’ plan to hold early elections. The 115-member council also supported a proposed move to a proportional representation system where voters would select political parties rather than individual candidates. Hamas won the last elections in 2006 under the current regional voting system. The PLO is the umbrella group for all Palestinian factions – except Hamas, which refused to join – on paper, though it is largely defunct in practice, making the move mostly symbolic. Calling an election would be a risky move for Abbas; his popularity is low, as is that of the Fatah party, and there is no guarantee that he would win the presidency again. PLO central council to call for early presidential and legislative elections Ma’an News Agency 7/20/2007 Bethlehem - Ma’an - The Palestine Liberation Organisation Central Council is expected to call for early presidential and legislative elections in their closing statement, due today, Friday morning, sources close to the council told Ma’an. The council is also expected to urge the PLO to prepare the ground for holding such elections, while stressing that setting the date for the elections is the responsibility of the president. The statement will also call on the PLO Executive Committee, the Palestinian National Council, and the nationalist powers and factions, to discuss the possibility of holding an ordinary PNC session. The council is also likely to demonstrate their support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by endorsing all the decrees and decisions he made as PLO chairman and PA president, especially following Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June. Palestinian Liberation Front leader calls for international action against occupation, criticizes Hamas Ma’an News Agency 7/20/2007 Bethlehem - Ma’an – Dr. Wasel Abu Yousef, the secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Front, called for an international campaign to condemn the Israeli occupation, to raise the public awareness of the separation barrier and to help bring about early presidential and legitimate elections. Speaking in Ramallah on Thursday, Abu Yousef condemned Hamas’ military action against Palestinian Authority as well as political and media institutions in the Gaza strip, and what he said were "irresponsible results of this revolution." Abu Yousef called on Hamas to back all political institutions to the Palestinian Authority. He also called for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council to establish a commission to investigate alleged wrongdoing against Palestinians and their institutions in Gaza. Top Palestinian body backs Abbas’ call for early elections Reuters, Ha’aretz 7/20/2007 A top Palestinian body backed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ motion for early elections in the Palestinian Authority on Thursday despite rival Hamas’ rejection of the plan. The 115-member Palestinian Central Committee (PCC), a decision-making forum of Abbas’ Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) endorsed the motion to hold early presidential and legislative elections. The elections are currently scheduled for 2010. "The PCC supports the president’s call for early parliamentary and presidential elections," the official statement of the endorsement said. Islamist Hamas questioned Abbas’ legitimacy to hold early elections, claiming it is a bid to strip the group’s power a month after it violently took over the Gaza Strip, routing Abbas’ Fatah forces. Palestinians Prefer a Coalition Government over New Elections FAFO, MIFTAH 7/19/2007 A majority of Palestinians don’t think new elections are the solution to the political crisis between Fatah and the Hamas government. More than half (54%) of those asked in an opinion poll conducted by Fafo say that they would prefer a new national unity coalition government over new elections. The suggestion of new elections received the support of one in five (21%) of those asked. At the same time, confidence that the sitting Hamas government can solve the crisis alone is very low (7%). The poll data provides little grounds to believe elections would solve the present crisis. The same balance of support was found in the poll for Fatah and Hamas as before the last elections in January 2006: 54 % for Fatah today, 46 % in December 2005, while Hamas received 32 % support today, compared with 21 % at the same time last year. Opening the PLO central council meeting, Abbas slams Hamas, calls early elections Ma’an News Agency 7/18/2007 Ramallah - Ma’an - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday, in the opening address of the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, that he will call early presidential and legislative elections without waiting for directives from what he called "the Hamas leaders who live abroad, and inside Palestine." "We don’t want to punish the Palestinian people, yet Hamas must be punished for what they did, especially as their leaders endeavor every day to justify the criminal conducts they committed in the name of religion, while they had planned to reach mean and contemptible goals," Abbas charged. He added that the Hamas movement has issued a report to justify their behavior, yet their leaders "have dug their tombs with their own nails. Italian FM: Hamas significant part of Palestinian people Barak Ravid and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 7/17/2007 Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said Hamas is a "significant and substantial" part of the Palestinian people, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday. D’Alema expressed fears that isolating Islamic groups like Hezbollah and Hamas will push them towards international terror network al-Qaida. "Hamas has carried out terror attacks, but it is also a ground roots movement," he said. "Not recognizing the government elected democratically is not exactly a lesson in democracy, and pushing such a group into the hands of al-Qaida is not in the international committee’s interest." The United States, the European Union and Israel regard Hamas, which came to power last year after it won Palestinian parliamentary elections, as a terrorist organization. Abbas will issues decrees for early legislative elections Rashid Hilal, International Middle East Media Center 7/18/2007 Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said on Wednesday that the issue of early legislative and presidential elections will be disused by the Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and that decrees for early elections will be issued in the near future. In a press release in Ramallah following his meeting with Javier Solana, the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Abbas said that he is pleased with the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the European Union. He added that the upcoming Quartet meeting will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian talks, and that the US President George Bush also called for an international summit next fall. Abbas also said that he and Solana also discussed his recent meeting with Olmert, and stated that the... Abbas to call for new elections BBC Online 7/18/2007 Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said he will call for new elections for parliament and the presidency. The pledge came ahead of a meeting of the council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is expected to back the move. The Hamas militant group, which was removed from power by Mr Abbas after it seized control of the Gaza Strip last month, opposes any new elections. Mr Abbas appointed an emergency government based in the West Bank. He says he will not enter talks with Hamas until its takeover of Gaza is reversed. Abbas will not be able to hold any election on the ground without a national agreement. These decrees, if issued, will be nothing but ink on paper Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas Hamas won last year’s parliamentary elections. Abbas denounces Hamas, tells PLO he will seek early elections The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 7/18/2007 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas harshly denounced Hamas on Wednesday, telling a top Palestine Liberation Organization decision-making body he would ask it to call early elections. Abbas made the announcement during an address to the Palestine Central Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah. His aides said they expected the election by the end of the year or early 2008. The PA chairman heaped criticism on Hamas because of its violent takeover of Gaza last month, when it vanquished Fatah forces loyal to Abbas, declaring "even the devil cannot match their lies." "We will call... for early legislative and presidential elections and we will not wait for approval from those sitting over there in Gaza or from those sitting abroad," he said. Abu Zuhri: "Central Council cannot make decisions regarding the government and PLC" Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 7/14/2007 Hams media spokesperson, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, stated on Saturday that Hamas movement does not recognize the Palestinian Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), therefore it does not recognize its decisions regarding the government and the Legislative Council. The statements of Abu Zuhri came after Nabil Abu Amro, media consultant of president Mahmoud Abbas, stated on Thursday that the Central Council will hold a meeting on July 18 in Ramallah to prepare for early elections in the Palestinian territories. Abu Zuhri told the Palestine Newspaper that "It is clear that Abbas is trying to prepare for early elections, but we in Hamas reject this issue since it is illegal and violates the basic law". He added that the Central Council is a non-legitimate institution that cannot make any decision... Ahmad Abed Al Rahman denies reports of Fatah preparing for a military attempt to regain Gaza Strip Ma’an News Agency 7/14/2007 Ramallah – Ma’an – Ahmad Abed Al Rahman, the formal spokesman of the Fatah movement, has denied reports published in the Kuwait-based Al Qabs newspaper, published on Saturday 14th July. The newspaper alleged that the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement are making military preparations in order to regain control over the entire Gaza Strip. In a statement received by Ma’an, Abed Al Rahman said: "The Palestinian people are concerned with their unity, and they are capable of gaining back their legitimate right of popular resistance." Abed Al Rahman called upon the media to "avoid publishing any information that might raise the tension in the Palestinian arena". He assured that the PLC in its coming session, to be held on 18th July, "will affirm the democratic choice and that the elections are the only way... Hamas to pay urgent aid to desperate Gazan workers Ma’an News Agency 7/14/2007 Gaza - Ma’an – The former minister of the national economy in the deposed unity government, Ziad Thatha has announced that his government has decided to allocate urgent aid to 23,000 Palestinian workers and fisherman, with each to be paid 100 US dollars. The minister stated that the amount will be paid on Wednesday 18th July, though post offices in the Gaza Strip. He added, "This decision comes as part of the governments’ decisions to give aid to over 75,000 laborers in the [Gaza] Strip and the West Bank." Thatha, speaking in a press conference in Gaza, declared "the government will always stand by the workers, public employees and people who gave us their confidence in the elections. We will do everything to have a good life for our people. Ash Sharq Al Awsat: Abbas intends to dissolve the PLC, form new PLO-enhanced government Ma’an News Agency 7/11/2007 Bethlehem - Ma’an - The London-based Arabic-language newspaper ’Ash Sharq Al Awsat’ has reported from a well-informed Palestinian source that claims that Palestinian Authority President Abbas intends to declare the emergency government the ruling government until new PLC elections are held. The decision on when the Palestinian Legislative Council elections will be held will be made on Friday, because then the thirty day legal period for the emergency government, which Abbas formed on June, 14th, will come to an end. The source added that it is possible that Abbas will announce the dissolving of the PLC because it cannot convene with the necessary quorum. Instead, Abbas may commission the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Commission and the PLO Central Council as the basis of the new government. Hamas boycotts PLC session called by President Mahmoud Abbas Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 7/12/2007 All Hamas legislators in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip boycotted on Wednesday a Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) session called by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Fateh slammed Hamas and said that the movement is obstructing the conducts of the council. The session was the opening one for the new term of the PLC. Hamas movement, which enjoys the vast majority at the council, boycotted the session both in Gaza and the West Bank in protest to dissolving the unity government headed by Ismail Haniyya. Hamas considered the emergency government, appointed by Abbas, as illegal, and refused to recognize it since Hamas won the vast majority of the PLC seats and government ministries during last year’s elections. Yet, the PLC, which is dominated by Hamas, is the legal authority that is entitled to vote... Fatah movement shores up support among Arab and Palestinian factions Ma’an News Agency 7/11/2007 Ramallah – Ma’an – Fatah on Wednesday expressed its appreciation of Arab and Palestinian efforts to end the Palestinian impasse. Certain Arab and Palestinian parties have stated their rejection and condemnation of recent events in the Gaza Strip, considering the "bloody military coup" to be "undemocratic". Several parties have stated the necessity of conducting early elections for the presidency and legislative council. The Fatah spokesperson, Fahmi Za’areer, stated, "The Fatah movement greatly appreciates every Palestinian effort, which stem from the care of the factions for the protection of the Palestinian people and their national cause. This matches the basic goals of Fatah, which preach the protection of individual and group freedoms within a multi-focus democratic framework. Qaddoumi: Fatah will not regain control of the strip by force Ma’an News Agency 7/6/2007 Nablus – Ma’an – Head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s political department, Farouq Qaddoumi, on Friday said he excluded the possibility of Fatah regaining control over the Gaza Strip by force. He said that the Fatah and Hamas movements should return to the negotiation table and remember that Israel is still occupying Palestinian territory and they should work together for liberation. Qaddoumi said that Hamas should publicly apologize to the Palestinian people, before entering into discussions with Fatah. He added that he advised members of Hamas in Syria not to be involved in early elections if they are called, but that they ignored his request. He said "they are now in a dark tunnel and hope they will break the siege solely through resistance." [end] PA won’t pay wages to employees who report directly to Hamas Reuters, Ha’aretz 7/2/2007 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ emergency government will pay all Palestinian Authority workers - excluding those who report directly to Hamas - their first full wages in 17 months, officials said on Monday. In Hamas-ruled Gaza, mosque preachers struck back with a religious decree that government workers who accept the money under such conditions violate the rules of Islam. The payments will go to nearly 140,000 Palestinian Authority workers, including tens of thousands in Gaza which Hamas seized by force on June 14. "There will be full salaries for all civil and security sector [employees]," Riyad al-Malki, Abbas’ minister of information, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, seat of the emergency cabinet. But some 23,000 workers hired by Hamas after it won 2006 elections will... Hamas against foreign troops Al Jazeera 6/30/2007 The armed wing of Hamas has rejected calls by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, for the deployment of international troops in the Gaza Strip, vowing to attack them like other "occupation forces". The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement on Saturday: "We will only receive these forces with shells and rockets." In talks on Friday with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, Abbas had called for deployment of international forces into Gaza where Hamas routed his forces on June 15. Early elections -- Abbas had said that the deployment of foreign troops was necessary to provide security for early parliamentary and presidential elections that he plans to organise in the coming months. Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas spokesman, said talks about elections at the present time will not solve the crisis facing Palestinians. Hamas: Efforts to end Rafah terminal crisis continue IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 6/30/2007 Abu Zuhri slams Abbas’ call for International forces in Gaza - The Islamic Resistance Movement, (Hamas) called all parties to end the suffering of thousands of Palestinians stranded at Gaza-Egypt border crossing in Rafah. Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesperson of Hamas said in a statement issued Saturday that his movement is investing serious efforts to reopen the Rafah terminal. Dr. Abu Zuhri said contacts are made with Egyptian official in bid to pressure Israel to reopen the border-crossing to allow thousands of Palestinian passengers to cross to Gaza Strip. Dr. Abu Zuhri also slammed statements made by the Palestinain President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Friday in which he called for international forces in the Gaza Strip. Abbas told the confernce of International Socialism in Paris that International forces are needed at least to protect planned early elections. Israeli interrogators demand detained MP’s to resign from their posts Ameen Abu Wardeh - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 6/30/2007 The Nafah defense society for Palestinian prisoners’ rights issued a report on Saturday stating that Israeli security service interrogators and the Israeli military court demanded form detained Palestinian members of parliament and officials to resign from their posts in order to be released from Israeli detention camps. The defense society condemned the Israeli authorities action and called it illegal and an interference in the Palestinian democracy and rights, adding that this action is aimed at destroying the Palestinian freedom of choice and forcing the Israeli agenda on Palestinians. The kidnapped parliamentarians, mostly Hamas, who have been abducted by the Israeli army after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006, refused to cooperate with this demand and issued a statement... Hamdan: Abbas’s call for international troops in Gaza is political scandal Palestinian Information Center 7/1/2007 BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, has strongly criticized PA chief Mahmoud Abbas’s persistent call for deployment of international troops in the Gaza Strip as a prelude to the holding of early elections, describing it as "a political scandal"." Abbas shuns Arab efforts that are calling for national dialogue by seeking refuge in the West, and insists on committing more errors arising either from a misreading of the situation or from more succumbing to Zionist and American pressures wishing to overthrow the Palestinian legitimacy," Hamdan explained in a press release. He added that Abbas, by calling for international troops, had ignored the root of the problem because "what happened in Gaza is the result of crimes committed by Zionist warlords in security apparatuses, who should have been referred to the Palestinian judiciary." Israel transfers $118 million in tax revenues to PA government Aluf Benn, Ha’aretz 7/1/2007 Israel transferred $118 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian government on Sunday, as part of a series of steps intended to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The remainder of the tax revenues, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, will be transferred to Abbas’ government within six months, as agreed in meetings last week between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s aides and Abbas. Palestinian officials estimate that Israel is withholding a total of some $600 million in tax revenues. Israel halted the tax transfers on Feb 1, 2006 after Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections. The tax revenues were transferred to the emergency government established by Abbas in the West Bank following Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. Hamas: "foreign troops in Gaza will be treated like occupiers" Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 6/30/2007 Al Qassam brigades the armed wing of the Hamas movement issued a statement on Saturday saying that any international forces deployed in the costal region will be treated like any other occupation force. This statement come shortly after Palestinian presidents Mahmoud Abbas who is visiting France has called for the deployment of foreign troops before any Palestinianr early elections. The brigades stated that: "We will only receive these forces with shells and guns." In talks on Friday with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, Abbas had called for deployment of international forces into Gaza where Hamas took total control two week ago after severe four days clashes with Fatah security forces- infighting that left 120 Palestinians dead and as many as 200 injured.  Articles
Abbas’s gamble Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 7/26/2007 The Palestinian president wants to push ahead with fresh elections, but it’s unlikely to happen. As the war of words between Hamas and Fatah continues, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas seems determined to organise presidential and legislative elections in the occupied territories, with or without Hamas’s participation. Last week, Abbas succeeded in convening the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Central Council in Ramallah in an obvious effort to get the council to endorse his recent measures against Hamas following the latter’s takeover of Gaza 14 June. The unelected (and ageing) council, which acts as a kind of PLO politburo, endorsed the anti-Hamas steps, including the dismissal of the Hamas-led government, the appointment of the Salam Fayyad government in Ramallah, as well as Abbas’s call for early general elections. The Siren Song of Elliott Abrams Kathleen Christison, CounterPunch 7/26/2007 Thoughts on the Attempted Murder of Palestine "Coup" is the word being widely used to describe what happened in Gaza in June when Hamas militias defeated the armed security forces of Fatah and chased them out of Gaza. But, as so often with the manipulative language used in the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, the terminology here is backward. Hamas was the legally constituted, democratically elected government of the Palestinians, so in the first place Hamas did not stage a coup but rather was the target of a coup planned against it. Furthermore, the coup -- which failed in Gaza but succeeded overall when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, acting in violation of Palestinian law, cut Gaza adrift, unseated the Palestinian unity government headed by Hamas, and named a new prime minister and cabinet -- was the handiwork of the United States and Israel. The Fatah attacks against Hamas in Gaza were initiated at the whim of, and with arms and training provided by, the United States and Israel. No one seems to be making any secret of this. Immediately after Hamas won legislative elections in January 2006, Elliott Abrams, who runs U.S. policy toward Israel from his senior position on the National Security Council staff, met with a group of Palestinian businessmen and spoke openly of the need for a "hard coup" against Hamas. According to Palestinians who were there, Abrams was "unshakable" in his determination to oust Hamas. When the Palestinians, urging engagement with Hamas instead of confrontation, observed that Abrams’ scheme would bring more suffering and even starvation to Gaza’s already impoverished population, Abrams dismissed their concerns by claiming that it wouldn’t be the fault of the U.S. if that happened. Abrams has been working on his coup plan ever since with his friends in Israel. As part of this scheme, the U.S. also urged Abbas -- again making no secret of this -- to dissolve the Fatah-Hamas unity government formed in March this year, form a new government, and call for new elections. Abbas acceded to U.S. demands with embarrassing alacrity after Hamas took Gaza. In a further gratuitous turn of the screw, he has appealed to Israel to turn up the heat on Hamas in Gaza by stopping delivery of fuel to Gaza’s power plant and keeping the Rafah border crossing point from Egypt closed so that none of the thousands of Palestinian waiting at the border to return home will be able to enter. Institutions, order and hypocrisy Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 7/26/2007 Even in this region, where diplomatic platitudes don’t begin to disguise the preferential treatment afforded Israel (although it is the occupier), the mandate of the new Quartet envoy Tony Blair rings particularly hollow. His role is reported as being "to help create viable and lasting government institutions representing all Palestinians ... and a climate of law and order for the Palestinian people." Internal Palestinian negotiations between Hamas and Fatah may yet stop the disintegration of the Palestinians’ civil institutions and the complete severance between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, at the last moment. These institutions functioned during the most difficult times under Israeli military attacks, but started to crumble after January last year when the West, Israel and some Fatah elements tried in vain to topple a Hamas government founded on democratic elections. One can go on about Hamas’ brutal takeover of the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, and one could go back and discuss the chaos deliberately brought on by the leaders of those organs. Indeed, Hamas appears to be determined to prove that a national-Muslim regime in the "liberated" area is effective. But Hamas is not homogenous, and the boycott and siege policy has merely strengthened its extremists and their anonymous handlers. It is also true that Palestinian AuthorityChairman Mahmoud Abbas and his entourage are still entrenched in their irreconcilable anger with Hamas. But after years of becoming accustomed to receiving money from the West to compensate for its chronic political indulgence toward Israel - and in exchange for their inability to end the Israeli occupation - it is hard to decide to what extent their attitude is autonomous and when it derives from American and Israeli dictates. Palestine: Democracy American Style David Morrison, spinwatch.org 7/16/2007 “It’s interesting that extremists attack democracies around the Middle East, whether it be the Iraq democracy, the Lebanese democracy, or a potential Palestinian democracy.” Believe it or believe it not, those are the words of President Bush, as he stood beside Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, at the White House on 19 June 2007. President Bush was speaking a few days after he had finally succeeded in undoing the outcome of the democratic elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006, when Hamas won 74 out of the 132 seats (compared with Fatah’s 45). It is worth emphasising that nobody, not even President Bush himself, questioned the fairness of these elections. Hamas had won, and won fair and square. NUG dismissed On 14 June 2007, with US encouragement, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, declared a state of emergency and dismissed the recently formed National Unity Government under Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Subsequently, Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad, the Finance Minister in the previous government, as Prime Minister and invited him to form a so-called “emergency” government. Gaza Showdown James M. Wall, MIFTAH 7/21/2007 On the morning of January 25, 2006, I was with a group of American churchpeople at a Palestinian Authority polling place in Bethlehem. Having observed many elections over the years, I have learned to detect the difference between enthusiastic reformers hungry for change and members of an old guard, complacent after too many years in power. From what we saw in Bethlehem and heard in the West Bank, we predicted that Hamas would be victorious. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not share our prediction; the day after the election she called an unusual Saturday morning staff meeting and expressed her frustration over the Hamas victory: "Why was it that nobody saw it coming?" The secretary revealed her lack of understanding of Palestinian politics when she added, "I don’t know anyone who was not caught off guard by Hamas’s strong showing." According to Arab journalist Zaki Chehab (Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement), two days after the election, Rice flew to London to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East conflict and emerging tensions with Iran. Again she claimed that a majority of people were surprised by the election results and added that "some say Hamas itself was caught off guard by Hamas’s strong showing." Alastair Crooke: Our Second Biggest Mistake in the Middle East Alastair Crooke, Palestine Chronicle 7/20/2007 The author argues that the West could not have chosen a worse time to try to make Fatah a proxy dependent on Western financial subsidy and Israeli ’concessions’ to make up for the popular support it patently lacks. Hamas: Unwritten Chapters by Azzam Tamimi • Hurst, 344 pp, £14.95 / Where Now for Palestine: The Demise of the Two-State Solution ed. Jamil Hilal • Zed, 260 pp, £17.99 / Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Sara Roy • Pluto, 379 pp, £16.99 ’The situation in Gaza is dangerous, and the danger is that Hamas will take over and turn Gaza into "Hamastan" -- into a kingdom of thugs, murderers, terrorists, poverty and despair.’ This was the reaction of Ephraim Sneh, Israel’s deputy defence minister, to Hamas’s seizure of a number of key security institutions in Gaza in the days leading up to 14 June, when Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, dismissed the unity government. But, despite what much of the media says, this is not a ’civil war’, and Hamas is not made up of ’gangs beyond the control of their leaders’. Hamas’s action was conducted with the aim of removing the influence of just one of Fatah’s security forces in Gaza, the militia controlled by Muhammad Dahlan, Abbas’s national security adviser. Hamas has insisted that this has not been a conflict with Fatah in general, and it was notable that neither the Palestinian security forces -- effectively the Palestinian ’army’ -- nor the police in Gaza were targets of the recent violence. The origins of the Hamas action in Gaza lie in the reaction of the international community, and of Fatah, to Hamas’s overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections of January 2006. Fatah, Yasir Arafat’s movement, saw itself as the founder of the Palestinian Authority; it believed it was the natural party of government; and it had fought a long battle with Arab neighbours to establish itself as synonymous with the PLO, and therefore, implicitly, as the ‘sole representative of the Palestinian people’. Some within Fatah were unable to come to terms with their loss of power, or to reconcile themselves to the claim that, on the basis of the election result, an Islamist party best represented the views of the Palestinian people. At this crucial juncture, the International Quartet intervened: they pressed President Abbas not to yield to Hamas, to hang onto power; and they promised to support him if he did so. Blockade Drains Life from Gaza James Haider, MIFTAH 7/18/2007 At the largest crossing point between Israel and the sealed-off Gaza Strip, capable of processing 200 lorries a day, only one vehicle can be seen. Instead of unloading its cargo of soya inside the border facility, the driver dumps it on a conveyor belt normally used to transfer gravel and cement. The belt runs more than 200 metres across Karni’s deserted parking lot, over the border fence and into Gaza, where Palestinian merchants reload it into lorries. No Israeli sets eyes on a Palestinian in the process. On such narrow lifelines – there are five crossing points from Israel – hangs the survival of Gaza’s 1.4 million people. The movement of goods into Gaza had been intermittent at best since Hamas won Palestinian elections early last year. After the Islamist movement drove out its secular Fatah rivals in fighting a month ago, it has been reduced to a trickle. Aid groups give warning that while Gaza’s basic needs are being met, the narrow coastal belt is facing meltdown if more is not done to open up its borders. At Sufa crossing, to the south, there is more activity but no more contact between the two sides. All morning Israeli lorries drive into a fenced-off field on the border, kicking up clouds of dust as soldiers in guard towers watch for snipers. In the afternoon they withdraw, lock the gates and the field fills with Gaza’s merchants, who load the goods and head back to their hungry towns. Ben White: Blair is Right Man for the Job, Indeed Ben White, Palestine Chronicle 7/18/2007 As soon as it was confirmed that Tony Blair would be taking up the role of special envoy to the Middle East on behalf of the Quartet (USA, EU, UN and Russia), typical reactions ranged from skepticism to mockery. However, the choice of Blair is only incredible if one takes at face value the stated function and intent of the Quartet regarding the ’peace process’. Most mainstream commentators, therefore, have missed a trick. Some have coyly hinted at the fact that Blair will be an ’unpopular’ or ’controversial’ choice of envoy in the Middle East (without going into any of the gruesome details). Others have gone further, highlighting specific Blair policies in the Middle East and concluding that the Quartet could have made a better selection. Common amongst all these approaches though is that the Quartet’s intentions are placed beyond serious critique. On closer inspection, the Quartet and Blair are a perfect match for each other, having been consistently on the same wavelength both in terms of practical strategies and the corresponding informing ideology. Perhaps the most far-reaching policy that both Blair and the Quartet have enthusiastically implemented is the continued boycott of the Hamas-majority Palestinian government, initiated shortly after the PLC elections had passed off successfully. The spectacle of the Quartet simultaneously urging the Palestinians to build a healthy democracy (and in fact, making that a prerequisite for ’earning’ the right to self-determination), yet also boycotting the elected government, has been unsightly enough to draw flak from diverse quarters. UN Human Rights monitor John Dugard, a man with a track record in highlighting Israeli human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories, wrote that "Palestinians understandably find it difficult to comprehend the response of the Quartet and many Western States to the Palestinian elections". While it is Israel that violates UN Resolutions and the ICJ’s ruling on the Separation Barrier, it is the Palestinian people who "have been subjected to possibly the most rigorous form of international sanctions imposed in modern times"1. Similarly, Oxfam -- a charity not known for political radicalism -- released a statement just over a year after the PLC elections that, with dry understatement, described how "the Quartet’s decision to withhold funds from the elected Authority has convinced many Palestinians that the Quartet is not genuinely committed to democracy in the Middle East"2 A Life of Unrest Steven Erlanger, MIFTAH 7/17/2007 Palestinians never used to do these things to one another. Putting bullets in the back of the heads of men on their knees. Shooting up hospitals. Killing patients. Knee-capping doctors. Executing clerics. Throwing handcuffed prisoners to their deaths from Gaza’s highest (and most expensive) apartment buildings. There is a madness in Gaza now. Hamas — a religious political-military organization that dominated the last Palestinian elections — claimed it was fighting infidels, with a holy sanction to kill. Fatah — the largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization — was nearly as brutal as Hamas and claimed it was fighting the Nazis. Poor young men from the squalid, stinking refugee camps of Gaza, their heads filled with religious slogans and revolutionary cant, took off their knitted black masks to pose in front of the gilded bathrooms of the once-powerful and rich men of Fatah. Then they stole the sinks, toilets, tiles and pipes, leaving the wiring and the metal scraps for the ordinary, unarmed poor. Gaza today is so far from the hopes of people like James Wolfensohn — the former World Bank president who tried to coordinate economic redevelopment in the 140-square-mile territory between Israel and Egypt after the Israelis withdrew nearly two years ago — as to seem like the other side of the earth. Rather than a model for a future Palestinian state, Gaza looks like Somalia: broken and ravenous. The civil war that Palestinians insisted could never happen just has, a civil war abetted by Israel and the United States in the name of antiterrorism and stability — another policy that has failed, at least here, where a burning smell still fills the nostrils and where a masked Hamas gunman with an AK-47 recently sat at the abandoned desk of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, lifted up the phone and said: “Hello, Condoleezza Rice? You have me to deal with now.” But the military victory of Hamas may also bring a welcome measure of quiet and security to the 1.5 million people of Gaza, nearly 70 percent of them refugees, who have been living a nightmare of criminal gangs, street-corner vendettas, clan warfare, absent police, corrupt officials, religious incitement and unremitting poverty. Reality Check on Palestinian Elections Nadia Hijab and Diana Buttu, MIFTAH 7/17/2007 The 30-day emergency period declared by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas ends July 14. There has been talk of early elections as a way out of the political crisis, but tremendous legal, political, and physical obstacles would face such a move to say nothing of the limits on the power of a new Palestinian parliament or government. After the Fatah-Hamas clashes in mid-June, Abbas declared a state of emergency, dismissed the government headed by Ismail Haniyeh, appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister, suspended Articles 65 – 67 and 79 of the Basic Law that require a new government to secure a vote of confidence from the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) before taking office, and called for an international force in Gaza to support the holding of new elections. Since then, the extent of the president’s powers has been challenged. What Lies Ahead for the PLC? The powers of each of the executive, legislative and judiciary are spelled out in the Basic Law, the quasi-constitution of the PA. [1] Those who support the actions taken by Abbas argue that during an emergency the president has sweeping powers, including to install a new government and to suspend Basic Law articles. However, independent, expatriate Palestinian constitutional experts who led the drafting of the Basic Law say that the president did not have the power to suspend its articles, and that, while Abbas had the right to dismiss the prime minister, the Haniyeh government should have continued in a caretaker capacity until a new government could secure a vote of confidence from the PLC. [2] The PLC crisis: where is it heading after the recent dialogue? Ma’an News Agency 7/14/2007 Gaza – Ma’an – Now that the thirty days for the emergency government are almost over, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, may be able to call for early elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), if he abides by the Palestinian Basic Law. Hamas is trying to take advantage of the last days of the state of emergency, as it is calling for a PLC meeting to discuss Abbas’s emergency government. With the end of the thirty days in sight, a number of questions surface. First of all, will Fatah members of the PLC respond to Hamas’ call for a PLC session? Also, it is not clear whether members of other factions and independent PLC members are likely to attend the meeting, because many are unavailable, such as Rawya Al Shawa. And, if Fatah do decide to be present, will the meeting put an end to the conflict between the two main factions within the PLC, Fatah and Hamas? The deputy speaker of the Council, Ahmad Bahar, has called on all members of the PLC to come to a meeting on Sunday to discuss the state of emergency declared on June 14th. Abbas Plays on Hamas Boycott to Keep his Cabinet in Place Steven Erlanger, MIFTAH 7/13/2007 Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, convened the Palestinian legislature on Wednesday, but a Hamas boycott meant there was no quorum, which was clearly what Mr. Abbas wanted. With parliament unable to meet, he can extend the life of the emergency cabinet he appointed after Hamas took over Gaza. Hamas legislators boycotted the session, contending that it was illegal. Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas legislator, said in Gaza that convening the legislature “without arrangements with the biggest bloc, and with the Israeli arrest of Hamas legislators, was an attack on Palestinian legitimacy.” The term of the emergency government, led by an independent economist, Salaam Fayyad, is set to expire next week, after 30 days. Some Palestinian legal authorities say that Mr. Abbas, though he had the power to fire the old government under the Palestinian Basic Law, had no power to name a new government without legislative approval. Hamas won 74 seats in the 132-member parliament in elections in January 2006, but 39 Hamas legislators from the West Bank are in Israeli jails without charges. So with only the 35 Hamas legislators not in jail and the 45 seats held by its rival, Fatah, Hamas would have been in the minority if a quorum had been attained. Recapturing legitimacy in Palestine Michael Meyer-Resende and Michel Paternotre, Daily Star 7/11/2007 Western countries got it wrong when they believed that Hamas could not win the 2006 democratic elections they promoted in the Palestinian territories. Western leaders are getting it wrong again when they suggest that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the only Palestinian player with democratic legitimacy and that he won elections in a "landslide," to quote the United Nations’ official Terje Roed-Larsen. This is not supported by the facts. Abbas was elected in 2005 with some 60 percent of the vote, but those elections were not contested by Hamas. He received 500,000 votes from an electorate of some 1.2 million. A year later, in more competitive elections, Hamas gained 44 percent of the votes, amounting to 440,000 votes. Both elections were considered to have been genuinely democratic by many international observers. The latest opinion poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research indicates that a meager 13 percent of respondents declared themselves satisfied with Abbas’ handling of the Palestinian crisis, and his overall approval rating has fallen to 36 percent. Abbas remains the legitimate president, but not more than Hamas was the legitimate government party. Contrary to perceptions that the West Bank is "Fatahland," last year Hamas won a higher proportion of seats there than in the Gaza Strip. What Can Abu Mazin Do? (PDF) Nathan J. Brown, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 10/20/2006 When Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the January 2006 elections, many observers asked whether President Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazin), the popularly elected president from the rival Fatah movement, could prevent Hamas from assuming authority. Once Hamas formed a government, many asked whether Abu Mazin could dismiss or replace it. These questions are natural. From the United States to Korea to Poland, the first election resulting in an alternation of power provoked questions and debates about the precise meaning of various constitutional clauses and phrases. Despite widespread media commentary concerning gaps and silences in the Palestinian “Basic Law”—the interim constitution for the Palestinian Authority—the document is actually unusually clear on most matters. It is untested, however, and its contents are not widely known. For this reason, there has been considerable confusion about its provisions, aggravated by the tendency of Abu Mazin’s advisors to pressure Hamas by hinting that the president might use constitutional powers that he simply does not have. Existing arrangements give Abu Mazin very few tools to act unilaterally. Almost any change would require either Hamas’s consent or a violation of the Basic Law. Stonewalling in Ramallah Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 7/5/2007 Even as the Abbas government does Israel’s bidding, it is being targeted by its new patron. East Jerusalem - The Ramallah-based Palestinian "emergency government" continues to adamantly reject any rapprochement with Hamas, despite growing calls to this effect by a number of key Arab and Muslim countries as well as Palestinian intellectuals. Instead, the government, backed by the United States and Israel, is asserting its authority (although this doesn’t mean much in real terms given the ubiquitous reality of the Israeli occupation), ostensibly in preparation for holding early general elections with or without Hamas’s participation. Nabil Amr, an aide to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying this week that it was likely that the term of the Fayyad government would be extended indefinitely despite "the legal reservations". Amr suggested that the inability of the Palestinian Legislative Council to convene would eventually force the Fatah-dominated PA leadership to take "extra-judicial" or even "non-lawful" decisions to extend the term of the present government in Ramallah indefinitely. Blair must make up for failure in Palestine Andrew Phillips, The Guardian 7/1/2007 It may well be because Tony Blair has Palestine on his conscience that he took the thankless role of special envoy to that benighted land. When we invaded Iraq, Blair made clear that reconciling Israel and Palestine was the twin challenge. His government failed to rise to it. The road map to nowhere has been compounded by a lack of even-handedness, a want of political imagination and a subservience to Israel and the Bush administration. That has directly contributed to the tragic shambles that is Palestine today. The old Israeli right-wing policy of perpetual divide and rule is again triumphant. My third personal fact-finding visit to Palestine since 2003 ended a few weeks ago with a one-to-one meeting with Ismail Haniyeh, then Prime Minister. Britain’s refusal to engage with Hamas over its lack of democratic legitimacy is seen there as wholly cynical, given that the boycott continued after elections last year gave them more than 60 per cent of the legislative seats. Blair will find the Palestinians feel bitterly about the West’s failure to stop Israel building its illegal wall, its rapid colonisation of the West Bank and the humiliation of the checkpoint. When I remarked to some Jewish NGO workers that the pass system seemed Kafkaesque, they said they called the West Bank ’Kafkastan’. LinksAdalah Adalah (Justice in Arabic) is the first non-profit, non-sectarian Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. The main goal of Adalah’s work is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protections for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Organization: Addameer (conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues. Supports Palestinian prisoners, advocates for rights of political prisoners, works to end torture. Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Arab Association for Human Rights - HRA The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Association for Civil Rights in Israel - ACRI The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) was founded in 1972 as a non-political and independent body, with the goal of protecting human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control. B’tselem The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. Occupation Prisoners News stories and reports about Palestinian prisoners from International Press Center, of the Palestinian National Authority’s State Information Service. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian Prisoners Society The Palestinian Prisoner Society is a social and human institution and its members are prisoners inside prisons and released prisoners. Membership is open to every Palestinian prisoner inside and outside prisons who meets the conditions of membership. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-Israel) was established in 1988 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - PCATI An independent human rights organization founded that monitors the implementation conditions in detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine The main collection contains the texts of current and historical United Nations material concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation and the search for peace. World Organisation Against Torture OMCT is today the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture,summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information.
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