Seeing little hope for major change from a new Israeli government, Palestinians are focused on an internal generational shift toward a campaign for rights and justice.
EXPLAINER: Jerusalem dispute could derail Palestinian vote
By JOSEPH KRAUSSApril 19, 2021 GMT
JERUSALEM (AP) A dispute over voting in east Jerusalem is threatening to cancel or delay the first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years.
While President Mahmoud Abbas is vowing to hold the vote, Israeli restrictions on Palestinian voters in east Jerusalem could give him a pretext for calling off an election that appears increasingly likely to threaten his hold on power.
The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and Abbas has said its residents cannot be excluded from parliamentary elections planned for May 22.
But the Palestinian Authority may need Israel’s permission for some 6,000 residents of the city to cast ballots. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its unified capital and bars the PA from operating in the city. It has yet to say whether it will allow voting in east Jerusalem but has signaled it will not agree to do so.
UNLIKE the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, the big story, this time, was not the Fatah-Hamas rivalry. Many rounds of talks in recent months between representatives of Palestine’s two largest political parties had already sorted out much of the detail regarding the now-cancelled elections, which were scheduled to begin on May 22.
Both Fatah and Hamas have much to gain from the elections; the former relished the opportunity to restore its long-dissipated legitimacy as it has ruled over occupied Palestinians, through its dominance of the Palestinian Authority, with no democratic mandate whatsoever; Hamas, on the other hand, was desperate to break away from its long and painful isolation as exemplified in the Israeli siege on Gaza, which ironically resulted from its victory in the 2006 elections.
May 6, 2021 at 10:39 am
It is evident that no one bought the official Palestinian narrative about postponing the legislative election scheduled for later this month, with the exception of the Fatah nucleus close to the leadership and affiliated therewith. There are currents in Fatah which are angry and are rebelling against the decision; they did not accept the reason , but rejected and refuted it. All the balanced factions opposed the postponement, as well of most, if not all, civil society institutions.
There is no doubt that the Palestinian people were hugely disappointed by the decision. The degree of their disappointment is almost unparalleled, matched only by the extreme enthusiasm for participating in the election process. A massive 93.3 per cent of those eligible registered with the voters lists, and they had 36 lists containing hundreds of candidates to choose from.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chairs a meeting of the Palestinian leadership at the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 25, 2019. Photo by Thaer Ganaim
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ April 30 decision to postpone elections, which would have been the first in 15 years, will deepen Palestinian division and could potentially signal the collapse of the Fatah movement, at least in its current form.
Unlike the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, the big story, this time, was not the Fatah-Hamas rivalry. Many rounds of talks in recent months between representatives of Palestine’s two largest political parties had already sorted out much of the details regarding the now-canceled elections, which were scheduled to begin on May 22.