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Uraiqat: Israel not easing grip for poll
Palestinians have accused Israel of not carrying out a promised easing of its military grip on the West Bank and Gaza for a presidential election to pick Yasir Arafat's successor.
On the eve of the vote, Palestinian officials announced a parliamentary election would be held on 17 July to complete what they hope will be a smooth transition towards democratic reform and peacemaking with Israel after the November death of Arafat.
As international election experts fanned out to monitor the ballot, Israeli soldiers kept up their daily routine, inspecting the identity cards and packages of Palestinians waiting in line at checkpoints at the entrances to West Bank cities.
"The Palestinians and their cars are being checked at the roadblocks. This is not what we call easing of restrictions," Palestinian cabinet minister Saib Uraiqat said ahead of Sunday's vote, which Mahmud Abbas, an advocate of non-violence in a struggle for statehood, was expected to win by a landslide.
Curfew
Hanna Nasir, chairman of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, said international monitors were urged to ensure Israel relaxed military restrictions in occupied territories.
"We have not received reports from observers in the field about problems at checkpoints. That does not mean there are no problems," said a spokeswoman for European Union monitors.
"I can't tell you (yet) that there have been no problems."
Israeli forces slapped curfews on several villages outside Nablus in a hunt for resistance fighters who killed an off-duty soldier and wounded three in the northern West Bank on Friday.
The curfews initially prevented deliveries of ballot papers there, but the restrictions were later lifted and monitors said all election materials were distributed.
Checkpoints
In promising to help Palestinians hold their first presidential election since 1996, Israel said it would keep troops out of West Bank cities - where they often mount raids in search of resistance men - but checkpoints would remain.
To Palestinians, the checkpoints are detested symbols of occupation. Israel says they stop human bombers.
The Nablus-area attack drew an Israeli threat to rescind its pledge of no military operations.
"We (promised) to ease off for 72 hours under agreement with the Palestinians, so that their security forces would take over responsibilities for the relevant areas," a senior Israeli security source said. "If they fail to make good on that, we will have no choice but to act."
Political sources said former US President Jimmy Carter, one of the election monitors, was asked by an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to deliver the warning to Abbas.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Abbas's dominant Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the West Bank ambush.
More bloodshed
Veteran Israeli peacemaker Shimon Peres, who is taking his Labour Party into a new coalition government with Sharon to pursue a planned withdrawal from the small occupied territory if Gaza, said Israel would do its utmost to facilitate the ballot.
"It is in our interest as well as the Palestinians'."
The passing of Arafat has raised hopes of ending four years of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed and reviving peace negotiations aimed at a Palestinian state. The United States and Israel accused of fomenting violence, something he always denied.
But resistance fighters have spurned Abbas's calls for a truce, suggesting he will have an uphill battle to realise his agenda.
New violence flared in the Gaza Strip as Israeli soldiers shot dead a 60-year-old Palestinian in a car at a junction near an army post and a Jewish settlement, local medics said. The army said troops fired at a gunman approaching a military post.
In the West Bank, Jamileh Hassan, 70, had hoped to travel to the village of Anabta, seven km (four miles) from her home, and overnight there before voting in her assigned polling station.
But a gate in a section of Israel's West Bank barrier remained closed and she could not pass. "If the gate stays shut, I will not be able to vote," she said.
Reuters
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/84DE9609-A416-4A9D-A4F0-9B7357E36CBD.htm
As international election experts fanned out to monitor the ballot, Israeli soldiers kept up their daily routine, inspecting the identity cards and packages of Palestinians waiting in line at checkpoints at the entrances to West Bank cities.
"The Palestinians and their cars are being checked at the roadblocks. This is not what we call easing of restrictions," Palestinian cabinet minister Saib Uraiqat said ahead of Sunday's vote, which Mahmud Abbas, an advocate of non-violence in a struggle for statehood, was expected to win by a landslide.
Curfew
Hanna Nasir, chairman of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, said international monitors were urged to ensure Israel relaxed military restrictions in occupied territories.
"We have not received reports from observers in the field about problems at checkpoints. That does not mean there are no problems," said a spokeswoman for European Union monitors.
"I can't tell you (yet) that there have been no problems."
Israeli forces slapped curfews on several villages outside Nablus in a hunt for resistance fighters who killed an off-duty soldier and wounded three in the northern West Bank on Friday.
The curfews initially prevented deliveries of ballot papers there, but the restrictions were later lifted and monitors said all election materials were distributed.
Checkpoints
In promising to help Palestinians hold their first presidential election since 1996, Israel said it would keep troops out of West Bank cities - where they often mount raids in search of resistance men - but checkpoints would remain.
To Palestinians, the checkpoints are detested symbols of occupation. Israel says they stop human bombers.
The Nablus-area attack drew an Israeli threat to rescind its pledge of no military operations.
"We (promised) to ease off for 72 hours under agreement with the Palestinians, so that their security forces would take over responsibilities for the relevant areas," a senior Israeli security source said. "If they fail to make good on that, we will have no choice but to act."
Political sources said former US President Jimmy Carter, one of the election monitors, was asked by an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to deliver the warning to Abbas.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Abbas's dominant Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the West Bank ambush.
More bloodshed
Veteran Israeli peacemaker Shimon Peres, who is taking his Labour Party into a new coalition government with Sharon to pursue a planned withdrawal from the small occupied territory if Gaza, said Israel would do its utmost to facilitate the ballot.
"It is in our interest as well as the Palestinians'."
The passing of Arafat has raised hopes of ending four years of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed and reviving peace negotiations aimed at a Palestinian state. The United States and Israel accused of fomenting violence, something he always denied.
But resistance fighters have spurned Abbas's calls for a truce, suggesting he will have an uphill battle to realise his agenda.
New violence flared in the Gaza Strip as Israeli soldiers shot dead a 60-year-old Palestinian in a car at a junction near an army post and a Jewish settlement, local medics said. The army said troops fired at a gunman approaching a military post.
In the West Bank, Jamileh Hassan, 70, had hoped to travel to the village of Anabta, seven km (four miles) from her home, and overnight there before voting in her assigned polling station.
But a gate in a section of Israel's West Bank barrier remained closed and she could not pass. "If the gate stays shut, I will not be able to vote," she said.
Reuters
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/84DE9609-A416-4A9D-A4F0-9B7357E36CBD.htm
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinians prepared to vote for only their second elected leader as Israel eased restrictions in the occupied territories on the eve of a ballot set to be won at a canter by PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas.
As the ballot boxes were delivered to hundreds of polling stations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, security sources reported that the Israelis were opening up checkpoints which had been closed to all but taxis for months.
Despite earlier threats to the contrary, there were no signs of troops in Palestinian population centers as the Israeli government apparently made good on its pledge to keep a low profile until at least Monday night.
The central elections commission reported that a curfew in the northern West Bank, imposed in the aftermath of a fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier, had held up the delivery of ballot boxes to a number of villages.
But Israel later lifted the curfew and there were no other reports of major obstacles to the ballot to choose a successor to the late Yasser Arafat.
Candidates were officially barred from campaigning on Saturday, which was declared a public holiday. However cars could be seen driving around towns and villages urging voters to turn out at the polling booths in force.
Public opinion polls have indicated that Abbas has all but clinched victory, standing at least 30 points ahead of his nearest rival, independent Mustafa Barghuti.
That said, his supporters' main fear is that large numbers of voters will heed the call of the radical Islamist group Hamas and stay away from polling stations.
An Abbas victory is likely to be the signal for a resumption of top-level talks with Israel, frozen since Abbas walked out after a short stint as Arafat's first premier in September 2003.
After returning to his base in Ramallah on Friday night, Abbas told reporters there was no option but to do business with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Mr. Prime Minister Sharon was elected by his people. We have no right to ask for that to be changed... We have no other choice but to sit with him and we will do our best to convince him of Palestinian rights," he said.
Abbas said he would ask current prime minister Ahmed Qorei to head up a new government and also voiced optimism about the prospect of persuading militant factions to sign up to a new truce.
He managed to persuade all the armed factions to halt their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks when he was premier, but the so-called "hudna" fell apart after seven weeks.
Ramallah-based analyst Khalil Shikaki said Abbas's long-term chances of success depended heavily on Israel's attitude.
Abbas was severely undermined by his ability to secure the release of no more than a few hundred prisoners and limited security agreements during his brief tenure as prime minister.
"Based on what Sharon did when Abbas was prime minister in 2003, I'm not very optimistic that he will help him out," Shikaki told AFP.
"Abbas will have to deliver 90 percent of the goods before Israel responds positively but he doesn't have the capacity to deliver more than 30 percent," he added.
Some 1.8 million Palestinians over the age of 18 have the right to vote. The polling booths will open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) Sunday and close 12 hours later.
Hundreds of international observers are also in the territories to ensure the fairness of the election, led by former French prime minister Michel Rocard and the ex-US president Jimmy Carter who met with Abbas Saturday.
Rawhi Fattuh, who has the caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority since Arafat's death on November 11, said that Sunday's presidential election would be followed by legislative elections in little over six months.
"The parliamentary elections will be held on July 17," Fattuh told a news conference in Gaza City.
Fattuh called on everyone to participate in the presidential election which he said would bring "stability to Palestinian society".
The acting president said he would cast his ballot in his native town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Abbas is expected to mark his ballot paper in a booth in the Muqataa leadership compound which has become Arafat's final resting place.
http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=050108192227.muzurgvs.xml
As the ballot boxes were delivered to hundreds of polling stations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, security sources reported that the Israelis were opening up checkpoints which had been closed to all but taxis for months.
Despite earlier threats to the contrary, there were no signs of troops in Palestinian population centers as the Israeli government apparently made good on its pledge to keep a low profile until at least Monday night.
The central elections commission reported that a curfew in the northern West Bank, imposed in the aftermath of a fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier, had held up the delivery of ballot boxes to a number of villages.
But Israel later lifted the curfew and there were no other reports of major obstacles to the ballot to choose a successor to the late Yasser Arafat.
Candidates were officially barred from campaigning on Saturday, which was declared a public holiday. However cars could be seen driving around towns and villages urging voters to turn out at the polling booths in force.
Public opinion polls have indicated that Abbas has all but clinched victory, standing at least 30 points ahead of his nearest rival, independent Mustafa Barghuti.
That said, his supporters' main fear is that large numbers of voters will heed the call of the radical Islamist group Hamas and stay away from polling stations.
An Abbas victory is likely to be the signal for a resumption of top-level talks with Israel, frozen since Abbas walked out after a short stint as Arafat's first premier in September 2003.
After returning to his base in Ramallah on Friday night, Abbas told reporters there was no option but to do business with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Mr. Prime Minister Sharon was elected by his people. We have no right to ask for that to be changed... We have no other choice but to sit with him and we will do our best to convince him of Palestinian rights," he said.
Abbas said he would ask current prime minister Ahmed Qorei to head up a new government and also voiced optimism about the prospect of persuading militant factions to sign up to a new truce.
He managed to persuade all the armed factions to halt their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks when he was premier, but the so-called "hudna" fell apart after seven weeks.
Ramallah-based analyst Khalil Shikaki said Abbas's long-term chances of success depended heavily on Israel's attitude.
Abbas was severely undermined by his ability to secure the release of no more than a few hundred prisoners and limited security agreements during his brief tenure as prime minister.
"Based on what Sharon did when Abbas was prime minister in 2003, I'm not very optimistic that he will help him out," Shikaki told AFP.
"Abbas will have to deliver 90 percent of the goods before Israel responds positively but he doesn't have the capacity to deliver more than 30 percent," he added.
Some 1.8 million Palestinians over the age of 18 have the right to vote. The polling booths will open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) Sunday and close 12 hours later.
Hundreds of international observers are also in the territories to ensure the fairness of the election, led by former French prime minister Michel Rocard and the ex-US president Jimmy Carter who met with Abbas Saturday.
Rawhi Fattuh, who has the caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority since Arafat's death on November 11, said that Sunday's presidential election would be followed by legislative elections in little over six months.
"The parliamentary elections will be held on July 17," Fattuh told a news conference in Gaza City.
Fattuh called on everyone to participate in the presidential election which he said would bring "stability to Palestinian society".
The acting president said he would cast his ballot in his native town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Abbas is expected to mark his ballot paper in a booth in the Muqataa leadership compound which has become Arafat's final resting place.
http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=050108192227.muzurgvs.xml
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