Palestinian Elections

Mustafa Barghuti (Middle East Online photo)

Israel Pressing on with 6-day Long Military Offensive
Palestine Media Center 9/28/2005
Mofaz Targets Gaza Infrastructure, Voting Hamas out of Palestinian Elections -- Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Intifada (uprising) and a Palestinian consensus to stop anti-Israeli attacks from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)’s war planes and artillery were busy destroying schools, bridges, roads, workshops, civilian buildings, power grids and PNA security centers in the coastal Strip and threatening to annex the West Bank, in a week-long offensive aimed at voting Hamas out of January 25 legislative elections to weaken the PNA credibility.

MI: Gaza escalation has weakened Hamas'' standing
Ha''aretz 9/29/2005
The past week''s flare-up in the territories has done serious "strategic damage" to Hamas, in the view of Israeli Military Intelligence. MI officers believe that the firing of dozens of Qassam rockets at Sderot and the kidnapping and murder of Sasson Nuriel in Ramallah have only bolstered Israel''s case against Hamas contesting Palestinian parliamentary elections until it disarms. A senior military source told Haaretz that in his opinion the Hamas leaders had been wrong in their judgment all week.

Hamas Candidates Part of Israeli Roundup
The Guardian 9/28/2005
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The Israeli military has rounded up 379 militant activists, including dozens of electoral candidates from Hamas, prompting accusations that Israel is using a weekend truce breach as an excuse to crush the Islamic group before upcoming Palestinian elections. The arrest sweep in the West Bank - the biggest in three years and part of a new offensive against Hamas - came after Israel failed to win international backing for its demand that the militant organization be barred from the Jan. 25 parliamentary vote. Israel says a government that includes Hamas, which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, would threaten peace prospects.

Diplomacy..

EXPECTANT: Palestinians wait outside a polling station in the West Bank town of Jericho during Thursday's municipal elections. Hamas battled Fatah for voter support. MUHAMMED MUHEISEN/AP

IDF, PA police start preparing for Thu. Palestinian elections
Ha''aretz 9/29/2005
The Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian police began preparations for Thursday''s elections in the Palestinian Authority by setting up bases of operation in 104 local councils in the West Bank, Israel Radio said. The IDF will allow armed Palestinian policemen to guard ballot boxes and move through areas that are under Israeli security control. However, the PA troops will be required to conceal their weapons. [end]

Hamas: Gaza withdrawal incomplete
AlJazeera 9/28/2005
A leader of the Palestinian resistance organisation Hamas has said Israel''s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was incomplete, complaining it still controlled airspace and border crossings. Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas'' political bureau, also said on Tuesday that Israel''s policy of assassinating the group''s senior officials in Gaza was aimed at preventing Hamas candidates from participating in the January Palestinian parliamentary elections. "This policy is not new. Israel is moving at various levels against Hamas to prevent it from taking part in the coming elections in order to bring in a Palestinian authority of its own design," Abu Marzouk told journalists in Damascus.

Human Rights..

On January 9, 2005 Palestinians living in the occupied territories will elect a president of the Palestinian Authority and new members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the second general elections in nearly eight years. (Helga Tawil photo)

PA official: Israel sabotaging vote
AlJazeera 9/28/2005
The Palestinian Authority has accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of seeking to sabotage the Palestinian legislative elections, scheduled for 27 January. The Israeli army has been rounding up hundreds of mainly Islamist political activists throughout the West Bank, many of whom are viewed as actual or potential candidates for the elections. "I have no doubt that Sharon is apprehensive about the very idea of allowing Palestinians to have elections," Ahmed Subh, the PA''s official spokesman, said. "He realises that democracy empowers our people, and he wants to keep us in a perpetual state of weakness so that he can impose on us the fait accompli."

269 Palestinians Arrested: Continued Night Bombardment in Gaza
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 9/27/2005
These incursions are an implementation of decisions issued by the Israeli political leadership.Detentions targeted scores of Palestinian civilians, including religious figures, politicians, community leaders, academics, journalists, student activists, and nominees for the third round of municipal elections, scheduled for Thursday 29 September 2005 in the West Bank.PCHR’s fieldworkers in the West Bank reported that most of the detainees are considered Islamists, especially those close to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).Among the detainees were Sheikh Hasan Yousef, the Hamas spokesman in the West Bank, and Dr. Mohammad Ghazal, a Hamas political leader.

Israeli Attacks Target Hamas Election Bid: Experts
Islam Online 9/26/2005
GAZA CITY, September 26 (IslamOnline.net) – The Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip is aimed at provoking Hamas into attacking Israeli targets and eventually undermining its participation in the January legislative elections, Palestinian experts said on Monday, September 26. "Israel wants to cast a pall over the upcoming elections by arresting Hamas politicians and candidates," Taher Al-Nono, a political analyst and a politician, told IslamOnline.net. Israel arrested Sunday, September 25, up to 207 Palestinians, including Hamas leaders in the West Bank Mohammad Ghazal and Hassan Yusuf, both potential parliamentary candidates.

People..

Yossi Beillin and Yasser Abed Rabbo, leaders of the so-called Geneva Accord

International..

Arabs heed Obama’s call for change
Alaa Bayoumi, Al Jazeera 2/4/2008
If it were not for Barack Obama, many Arabs would not even bother to follow the results of the US presidential race on Super Tuesday. Such gloomy views could be attributed to Arabs’ negative attitudes toward governments and politics in general. Arabs have been living under authoritarian governments, many of them US allies, for decades. And the US’s traditional support for Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, coupled with the war on Iraq, has meant Arab mistrust of the US has dipped to new lows in recent years. Against this backdrop, it is easy to see why many Arabs will not be following the latest news from the US presidential primary elections. ’Offensive’ rhetoric Many do not see any serious differences between the Republican and Democratic candidates who are taking part in the race.

Ahmadinejad battles on the home front
Khody Akhavi, Asia Times 2/5/2008
WASHINGTON - Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has garnered headlines around the world for his defiance of Washington, as well as his rhetorical grandstanding on Palestinian issues, Israel and his government’s alleged support of Shi’ite militias in Iraq. Still, it appears that Iran’s parliamentary elections in March will be determined less by debates over the country’s foreign policy than by rising criticism of incompetence and economic mismanagement of conservatives and hardliners in the legislature and in Ahmadinejad’s office." Ahmadinejad is in trouble, not only because his economic policies have not worked; he has managed to antagonize almost the entire Iranian elite because of his exclusivist management style," said Farideh Farhi, an independent researcher on Iran and political scientist at the University of Hawaii.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Caught Between Reformists and Hardliners
Khody Akhavi, Inter Press Service 1/28/2008
WASHINGTON, Jan 28(IPS) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has garnered headlines around the world for his defiance of Washington, as well as his rhetorical grandstanding on Palestinian issues, the existence of Israel, and his government’s alleged support of Shiite militias in Iraq. Still, it appears that Iran’s upcoming parliamentary elections in March will be determined less by debates over the country’s foreign policy than by rising criticism of incompetence and economic mismanagement of conservatives and hardliners in the legislature and in the office of the president. "Ahmadinejad is in trouble, not only because his economic policies have not worked; he has managed to antagonise almost the entire Iranian elite because of his exclusivist management style," said Farideh Farhi, an independent researcher on Iran and political scientist at the University of Hawaii.

Mideast press urges action on Gaza
BBC Online 6/14/2007
The Palestinian press makes an urgent appeal for action to prevent the violence in Gaza from turning into a full-blown civil war, urging President Abbas to call a state of emergency and ask for intervention from the region’s Arab states. Papers in the wider Middle East blame the violence on Palestinian leaders and demand fresh elections to resolve the power struggle between the Hamas and Fatah factions. In Israel, commentators ponder how the country should react to the Palestinian infighting, with one advocating a total withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from the occupied territories. - Palestinian AL-QUDS -- It seems we have reached the point of no return in this infighting and are witnessing the beginnings of civil war.

Lebanon factions resume talks
AlJazeera 3/22/2006
Leaders of Lebanon''s rival factions have resumed talks on the fate of the country''s pro-Syrian president and a UN call for the disarmament of the Hizb Allah group. The talks come amid signs that an agreement remains elusive on the two issues that threaten to destabilise the country. The discussions, which began on 2 March, have focused on a 2004 UN Security Council resolution that calls for disarming Hizb Allah and Palestinian fighters. The resolution also urged new presidential elections. It was passed in September 2004, days before Lebanese legislators extended Emile Lahoud''s term for three years.

Chirac vows ''voice of reason'' on Iran
Daily Star 3/6/2006
French president labels cartoon row a ''clash of ignorance'' -- RIYADH: French President Jacques Chirac said Sunday the West would still reach out to Iran for a deal on its disputed nuclear file, in the first address to the Saudi consultative council by a foreign leader. The president''s wide-ranging speech in Riyadh also covered Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian elections, reform in the conservative monarchy and the "clash of civilizations" between the West and Islam. "In Iran, the voice of reason that France, the United Kingdom and Germany wanted to be heard on the nuclear file has not been heard, for the time being," Chirac told the appointed advisory council, an all-male body of 150 members.

Palestinian Americans Push Religious Pluralism in P.A.
Forward 2/17/2006
WASHINGTON — Palestinian American activists are vowing to lobby Hamas against turning the West Bank and Gaza into an Islamic theocracy. Anxious about the victory of the Islamic fundamentalist group in last month''s Palestinian parliamentary elections, Palestinian American leaders say that they will push for laws favoring American-style church-state separation, pluralism, equality and inclusiveness. "We are at the time when defining decisions may very well be made in Palestine," said Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine. The task force is a prominent pro-Palestinian advocacy group in Washington.

Disagreement With Gaza Disengagement Sours Orthodox on Bush
Forward 6/24/2005
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week, cracks were emerging in the coalition of Jewish conservatives that rallied this past November around the claim that President Bush was "the best friend Israel ever had in Washington." Many influential Republican loyalists and non-Orthodox hawks appear to be remaining firm in their support of Bush. But a growing number of Orthodox activists who were avidly courted by Bush in the 2004 election are feeling distinctly dismayed as the administration embraces Israel''s Gaza disengagement plan and presses for more aid to the Palestinians.

Elections give hope to Palestinian refugees
Daily Star 6/7/2005
BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees living in squalid and overcrowded camps dare to hope the legislative elections will directly improve their lives. "I have been monitoring the elections to see if they will bring change," said Mohammad al-Daoud, 21, outside Beirut''s Chatilla camp where portraits of candidates jostle those of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Some 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 refugee compounds in South Lebanon, where conditions are often harsh and permanent citizenship is denied to all. Fouad Abed, 36, complained that the candidate he was rooting for lost in the first part of the four-stage elections that took place May 29.

El Salvador group opens park in honor of late Palestinian leader Arafat
Ha''aretz 5/25/2005
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - A new plaza on Jerusalem Avenue was inaugurated Wednesday in honor of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, despite criticism from the Israeli Embassy in El Salvador. "We are making a monument to the maximum leader of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine," said one of the promoters, businessman John Nasser, as the square with a large bust of Arafat was inaugurated. Migrants from Palestine flowed to El Salvador for decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and several families became prominent in business and politics. Both President Tony Saca and his rival in last year''s election, Schafik Handal, are sons of families that migrated from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

AIPAC Losing this Fight
Electronic Intifada 3/7/2005
Press Release, Council for the National Interest -- AIPAC has been taken aback by new Mideast resolutions. Last month the House and the Senate each passed their own resolutions expressing support for the Palestinian Authority in the wake of their successful presidential elections. The Washington Jewish Week reported that many on the Hill feel the Israel lobby was caught asleep on this one. The problem for the lobby was simple: popular support and optimism after the Palestinian presidential elections took the wind out of any possible grounds for raising opposition to the resolutions.

Arabs warmly welcome Abbas election
Middle East Online 1/10/2005
Analysts, officials hail election of Mahmud Abbas as Palestinian leader, pay tribute to strong voter turnout. -- Arabs gave a warm welcome Monday to the election of Mahmud Abbas as Palestinian leader, admiring a successful exercise in Arab democracy and hoping that a strong voter turnout will bolster his position. Analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah of Cairo''s Al Ahram Center of Strategic Studies said the high turnout and the strong result for Mahmud Abbas "gives him the necessary legitimacy for his plans to resolve the conflict" with Israel.

Press Review: ''The hour of truth has arrived''
The Guardian 1/11/2005
Mahmoud Abbas wins but how will events now develop? -- Times, Editorial, January 10 - "After [Sunday''s] election ... there was a palpable feeling that something had changed ... Mahmoud Abbas, the pragmatist favoured by Israel and the outside world ... won a triumphant victory ... to succeed the late ... Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority ...

Economy..