Jihad Will Boycott Palestinian Election

Senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammed Al-Hindi said his group would not field a candidate and was urging its members not to vote.

Hamas, another militant Palestinian group, declared a similar boycott on Wednesday.

Their decision to shun the election could undercut moderates like Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister who is running as the candidate of Fatah, the dominant Palestinian faction that seeks a state side-by-side with Israel.

Abbas wants an armed Palestinian revolt against Israel in occupied territories to stop and to renew peace talks with the Jewish state aimed at a Palestinian state there.

“Islamic Jihad has decided not to participate in the presidential elections of the Palestinian Authority,” Hindi said. “Islamic Jihad will not field a candidate and will not endorse any other candidate.”

The boycott reflects Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s view of the election as a tool to prop up the Palestinian Authority, created under interim peace deals Arafat forged with Israel a decade ago that Islamists rejected.

“The Palestinian people are under occupation,” Hindi said. “They are looking forward to someday having a real election in a sovereign state in a liberated land. These conditions unfortunately do not apply to the Palestinian Authority presidential elections which are being held under the gun of the occupation.”

Aside from Abbas, the list of candidates includes intifada leader Marwan Barghouti who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail. Barghouti’s last-minute candidacy has upset Abbas’ chances and thrown the Palestinian political arena into turmoil. Palestinian officials have called on Barghouti to withdraw his candidacy to maintain unity among Palestinian ranks.

“Candidates have until midnight on Dec. 15 to withdraw their candidacy,” Rami Hamdullah, secretary-general of the Central Elections Committee (CEC), told a news conference in Ramallah.

Hamdullah said so far71 percent of the Palestinian electorate, or1 ,282, 524Palestinians, had registered to vote. “The CEC has approved 10 applications and rejected two due to ineligibility,” he said.

The eight other candidates are: Abdel Sattar Qassem (Independent); Bassam Salhi (Palestine People Party); Tayssir Khaled (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine); Abdel Karim Shbier (Independent); Hassan Khreisheh (Independent); Abdel Halim Al-Ashqar (Independent); Alsaied Barakah (Independent); and Mustafa Barghouti (Independent).

In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Abbas would probably win the vote and Barghouti’s decision to run for president had damaged Palestinian unity.

“Fatah has nominated Abu Mazen and Abu Mazen, I think, will be the one to win,” Mubarak said, referring to Abbas by his nom de guerre.

“There is Marwan Barghouti. He said ‘no’, then came back again (and said ‘yes’). It splits the Palestinian line and we urge the Palestinians that there should be one voice and no differences at a time when we need to stay clear of differences,” Mubarak said.

Mubarak said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told Egyptian officials who visited the Jewish state on Wednesday he was ready to help the Palestinians hold the elections by allowing freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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The Islamic Jihad has urged its followers not to participate in the forthcoming Palestinian elections, becoming the second resistance group in as many days to dismiss the poll.

Muhammed al-Hindi, the Gaza leader of Islamic Jihad, said on Thursday the group had decided not to field any candidate in the 9 January election to replace Yasir Arafat and not to support any independent candidate either.

Al-Hindi urged his followers and Palestinians in general not to participate in the poll because it cannot be truly free.

"The Palestinian people who are living under occupation want to have a real election, a free and fair election in a free, liberated land. We cannot say the upcoming presidential election is like this," he said.

The refusal of Islamic Jihad to back the election came a day after Hamas announced it would not field a candidate for the election. However, it left open the possibility of supporting an independent candidate.

The participants

Shereen Abu Aqla, Aljazeera's correspondent in Palestine reporting from Ram Allah, said another group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), has also announced it would not run for the elections, but that it has not called on its members to boycott them.

The groups which have announced their participation so far are: the Fatah movement with Mahmud Abbas its candidate; the Palestinian People's Party with Bassam al-Salhi its candidate; and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

The more the number of groups that participate, the greater the legitimacy of the election, Abu Aqla said.

Also on Thursday, the central election committee said at a press conference 71% of Palestinians had registered to participate in the election.
Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/95D2864F-67AE-43A2-9690-4923DD5AB66B.htm