Elections, Palestinian and Israeli

Mustafa Barghuti (Middle East Online photo)

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

Jordan vows to reject ’unjust’ Palestinian-Israeli peace
Daily Star 11/29/2006
AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday pledged his country would reject any "unjust settlement" of the Palestinian issue that could undermine Amman’s own stability and development. The king was speaking at the opening of the fourth ordinary session of Parliament since June 2003 elections, and his "speech from the throne" was followed by the re-election of the speaker for the 110-seat lower house." My government... commits itself to offering all possible support to the Palestinians," the king said." Jordan will not accept an unjust settlement of this issue, nor will Jordan accept any settlement that comes at its expense," he told the Upper and Lower chambers of Parliament. Jordan, where half the population is of Palestinian origin, has repeatedly said it will never accept becoming a substitute state for the Palestinians...

Haniyya to meet Egyptian officials in Cairo Tuesday
International Middle East Media Center 11/27/2006
Senior Palestinian sources reported on Monday that Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, will head to Cairo on Tuesday for meetings with Egyptian officials to discuss the issues of National Unity Government, prisoner swap deal and lifting the embargo imposed on the Palestinians, the Ramattan news agency reported. The sources stated that Haniyya also intends to tour in several Arab countries to inform the leaders on the developments in Palestine. Haniyya did not leave the Gaza Strip since his movement, Hamas, won the legislative elections last January. On Sunday evening, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashal left the Egyptian capital after a three-day visit where he met with the Egyptian Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman, and discussed with him several issues...

Rice drops plan for Jordan peace summit due to PA turmoil
Ha’aretz 11/24/2006
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had wanted to use her trip to Jordan next week to jump-start Israeli-Palestinian talks, but the idea was shelved due to the Palestinians’ ongoing failure to establish a unity government, Israeli government sources said. Earlier this week, U.S. President George W. Bush unexpectedly announced he would be joining Rice on her Jordan trip, which was scheduled to coincide with a conference that King Abdullah of Jordan is hosting. Bush is coming mainly to reassure a key American ally in the region that the United States will not execute a hasty withdrawal from Iraq in response to the Republican defeat in the American midterm elections earlier this month. But Rice’s visit was planned some time ago, and she originally considered inviting PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas...

Italy calls on the U.S. to press Israel on Palestinian conflict
Ha’aretz 11/10/2006
Italy’s Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema called on the United States on Friday to refocus its foreign policy following midterm elections, saying it was time to stand up to Israeli hawks over the Palestinian conflict. A staunch critic of the Iraq war, D’Alema said he did not expect a sudden shift in President George W. Bush’s foreign policy following his party’s defeat in mid-term elections. But he called on Bush to press Israel, where he said the military was lashing out in Gaza to prove its might after failing to defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon." I’m referring to a government weakened from the Lebanon conflict, pressed by the right, with the accusation of not being determined enough in its military operation," he said. He said the U.S. should make resolving the Palestinian conflict its priority.

FM to launch effort to restart talks with PA bypassing Hamas
Ha’aretz 11/5/2006
The Foreign Ministry is looking for ways to hold talks with the Palestinian Authority that would "detour" Hamas. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, concerned over the diplomatic impasse with the Palestinians, instructed ministry officials to come up with ways for a dialogue without involving the Hamas cabinet. Among the ideas is whether the road map has to continue as the basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; considering a Palestinian proposal to conduct talks whose outcome would be presented as a referendum to the Palestinian public or as the Fatah party platform in new elections; and formulating the goals of the talks -- a final arrangement, principles of a final arrangement, or a series of moves to allow an exit from the present impasse.

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)

WHO concerned about deterioration in Palestinians’ access to medical services, particularly since the strike
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2006
The World Health Organization issued the following press release on 16 November in which they voice their concern about the rapid deterioration in access for Palestinians to appropriate medical services in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly since the start of the general strike:WHO is concerned about the rapid deterioration of Palestinians’ equitable access to adequate and effective medical services. This is mainly the result of the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s financial crisis which has followed the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. The Government of Israel has stopped handing over the tax and customs revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and international donors have suspended direct aid to the Ministry of Health.

Take action against Israeli war crimes in Gaza
International Solidarity Movement 11/13/2006
Since the Israeli “redeployment” from Gaza on August 20, 2005, Israeli occupation troops have killed over 700 Palestinians and wounded four thousand others. Israeli is literally starving the Gaza strip. Israel has also taken advantage of the western media’s preoccupation with the US midterm elections to commit new war crimes including large scale home demolitions, indiscriminate firing on peaceful demonstrators and the massacre of civilians in their beds. The atrocities of the last few days could intensify unless we focus attention on them and insist they be exposed by the media and stopped immediately. Palestinians have also called for an international week of action against the Apartheid Wall, and against the ghettoization of Palestine for November 9-16. Please write about this subject to all national and local media outlets... -- International Week Of Action

People..

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

Almost 80% of Israelis Want Peretz Out Over Lebanon War
An Nahar 11/24/2006
Nearly 80 percent of Israelis want Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign over failings from the war in Lebanon and unceasing Palestinian rocket attacks, a survey revealed on Friday. According to the poll, published in the Maariv daily, 78 percent of respondents believe Peretz should resign, compared to only 17 percent who said "no" when asked whether they thought he should step down. The survey also tracked a recent trend in rising support for right-wing parties, when respondents were asked which party they would vote for should snap elections be held immediately. Right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party came in top, set to win 29 seats in the 120-member parliament, compared to the 12 that his MPs currently occupy, the Maariv poll said.

TV ticker-tape sends messages to political prisoners, university graduates and political adversaries
Palestine News Network 11/23/2006
Under occupation the language of the short message has become one of the most common forms of discourse both on cell phones, and via the phone to the television screen. It began to gain more popularity after a group of students in the northern West Bank initiated a message-tree of sorts for families under major siege in the northern Gaza Strip earlier this month. And after Israeli forces killed five Palestinians yesterday in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians wrote even more. However, the messages are not limited to those of condolences for grieving families. Internal political debates have become fodder for those sending text messages, especially as university student elections and politics occupy the minds of the politically active. Birthday messages are going to political prisoners...

International..

Maliki allies triumph in Iraq provincial polls
Middle East Online 2/19/2009
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s allies triumphed in the January 31 provincial polls, final results showed on Thursday, boosting his position in war-battered Iraq after fiercely contested elections. Candidates backed by Maliki dominated in Baghdad and also won a majority in all nine of Iraq’s Shiite provinces, in a huge vote of confidence for the premier whose standing has grown steadily at home and abroad in the past year. Just over half of Iraqis voted in the largely trouble-free elections, which were seen as a vital test of the country’s progress since the US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein from power almost six years ago. Maliki, a Shiite, did not stand in the provincial council polls but threw his backing behind State of Law Coalition candidates. The polls held in 14 of Iraq’s 18 provinces were seen as a referendum on Maliki’s performance.

Mohammad Khatami criticizes rival Ahmadinejad over Iran’s isolation
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 2/12/2009
The top reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential race has criticized hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the country’s international isolation. The comments were the first by Mohammad Khatami about the president since Khatami entered the race last weekend. They signaled that his campaign will likely focus on Iranians’ worries that Ahmadinejad’s fiery anti-Western rhetoric has worsened the country’s status in the world at a time when Iran is suffering economic woes. Khatami, a liberal cleric who was president from 1997-2005, told a group of his supporters that the current situation in the country is not desirable, according to Khatami’s Web site. Khatami warned at the meeting late Wednesday that if the situation continues, the country’s social capital and international reputation will be damaged even more.

Iraq’s Parliament fails to elect new House speaker
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 2/9/2009
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Parliament remained deadlocked on the election of a new speaker on Sunday, just two days after US Vice President Joe Biden said Iraq needed to push ahead with political reform. The failure is a blow to the fledgling democracy, which without a speaker cannot debate or approve a new budget and oil laws deemed crucial to the reconstruction of the country. There are five candidates vying for the post, but rival Sunni politicians cannot agree on who should get the job. "A group of parties left the hall today and there were not enough MPs to choose a new speaker," said Jamal al-Butikh, chief of the National Iraqi List, the parliamentary group headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Outspoken Mahmoud Mashhadani quit as speaker on December 23, triggering political wrangling over a replacement. He resigned after Kurdish and Shiite MPs clamored for him to go because. . .

Iraq’s Sadrists complain of vote fraud
Middle East Online 2/7/2009
BAGHDAD - Iraqi politicians backed by the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday said they would lodge an official complaint about votes being excluded during last weekend’s provincial elections. Allies of Sadr said that preliminary results declared by election authorities were markedly different from estimates compiled by the party’s observers during the hotly-contested vote. "There is a big difference in some provinces between the figures we have, through our agents and observers, and those that were declared," said Amir al-Kinani, secretary general of the Free Independent Movement, backed by Sadr. "We will submit the appeal in the results of a number of Baghdad areas and other provinces, including Najaf, Maysan, and Diwaniyah," he said. The Free Independent Movement finished second in the capital Baghdad with nine percent of the vote, which left them 29 percent behind candidates backed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Israel, Iran, Pakistan world’s least popular nations - poll
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Daily Star 2/7/2009
WASHINGTON: Israel, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan are widely seen as exerting the most negative influence on world affairs, according to the latest in a series of annual global surveys by the BBC’s World Service on popular perceptions of the world’s most powerful or newsworthy nations. The survey, which questioned some 13,500 respondents in 21 countries around the world, found that perceptions of Russian and Chinese influence also became considerably more negative during 2008. At the same time, views of the United States, which rivaled those of Israel and Iran just two years ago, continued improving modestly last year but remained predominantly negative despite the victory of Barack Obama in the November 2008 presidential elections. "Though BBC polls have shown that most people around the world are hopeful that Barack Obama will improve US relations with the. . . "

Maliki: Iraq elections ’changed political map’
Middle East Online 2/6/2009
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Friday that Iraq’s provincial elections had "changed the political map" and were a success for the country’s citizens. "It is a success for all Iraqis," he told reporters in Baghdad, in his first comments since results showed on Thursday that candidates backed by him had triumphed in fiercely contested polls held six days ago. "Sure, there are changes to the political map, because the citizens voted to see the changes," said the Shiite premier, who has adopted a notably secular political outlook. "Iraqis voted based on the programme presented by candidates and not on a sectarian affiliation," he said. "I am more happy for that than the fact that our list topped the vote. " Maliki did not stand in last Saturday’s elections but campaigned vigorously for candidates in the State of Law Coalition, who swept the poll in Baghdad and in eight of Iraq’s nine Shiite provinces.

Initial results indicate triumph for Maliki in provincial polls
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 2/6/2009
BAGHDAD: Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki’s allies triumphed in weekend elections, preliminary results showed Thursday, delivering him a popular mandate after fiercely contested polls in the war-torn nation. Candidates backed by Maliki took the biggest vote in Baghdad and eight of the country’s nine Shiite provinces, in a huge vote of confidence for the premier, whose standing has steadily grown at home and abroad in the past year. Just over half of Iraqis voted on Saturday in the election, which was seen as a vital test of the country’s progress since a US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein from power almost six years ago. Maliki, a Shiite, did not stand in the election but threw his backing behind candidates from the country’s State of Law Coalition. The preliminary tally released by the Iraqi High Electoral Commission showed that the coalition had a resounding success in Baghdad, achieving 38 percent of the vote.

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..

WHO concerned about further deterioration in access to medical services in Occupied Palestinian Territory
ReliefWeb/WHO 11/16/2006
WHO is concerned about the rapid deterioration of Palestinians’ equitable access to adequate and effective medical services. This is mainly the result of the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s financial crisis which has followed the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. The Government of Israel has stopped handing over the tax and customs revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and international donors have suspended direct aid to the Ministry of Health. As a consequence of these measures, the PA has been unable to pay regular salaries since March 2006. Health workers employed by the PA have since received provisional allowances through the Temporary International Mechanism established by the European Union.

New elections for Journalists Union within six months
Palestine News Network 11/13/2006
The Palestinian Journalists Union met for consultation in Ramallah on Sunday night to find solutions to solve ongoing problems. Accusations and a call for new leadership recently became public and now members say they cannot wait long for corrective moves to be made in the administration. Director Naim Al Tobasi did not attend. Journalist in attendence, Said Ayyad told PNN that the meeting was informal and initiated by the journalists. They agreed that there is a need to reform administrative work and overcome several factors that are impeding the work of the union, including lack of ability for members to participate in meetings. Ayyad also told PNN that elections for a new administrative body will be held within the next six months. Journalist Hassan Abdullah was requested to rescind his resignation tendered 10 days ago. -- See also: Journalists Union calling for internal reform

Journalists Union calling for internal reform
Palestine News Network 11/2/2006
Signs indicate that a serious crisis is looming in the Palestinian Journalists Union offices in the West Bank. The crisis erupted as director Naim Al Tobasi began a visit to Tunisia with other union members. Some in the Journalists Union are calling for elections while others have resigned altogether. Administrative Board member Hassan Abdullah announced his resignation on Tuesday. He delivered his resignation with the comment that the “resignation does not supersede direct or indirect involvement in any activities. ”He is not relinquishing membership in the Union as it is the right of every member of the Palestinian media who meets the conditions for membership to be involved. Journalists Union Administrative Board member Said Ayyad is calling for new elections...