GAZA (Reuters) - Campaigning began on Tuesday for a Palestinian legislative election clouded by speculation that President Mahmoud Abbas, mired in conflict with Israel and facing a challenge from rival Islamists, could delay voting.
The January 25 ballot is widely seen as a referendum on Abbas' rule following Israel's Gaza pullout last year, which stoked hopes of ending fighting and of founding a Palestinian state.
But surging chaos in Gaza, and diplomatic deadlock over Israel's designs on the occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, have sapped support for Fatah, the ruling Palestinian faction dogged by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
Islamic militant group Hamas, popular among Palestinians for its charities and suicide bombings against Israel, is Fatah's most robust rival.
There is a Palestinian crisis, and elections are a first step toward resolution, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said while helping festoon a Gaza City street with campaign posters and Islamist-green flags.
Now we can say that our people are on the threshold of a new era, an era of real change and reform.
With Fatah divided between veteran members and a young guard vying for influence, Abbas has come under pressure within the faction to delay the election.
Abbas raised this possibility on Monday, citing as his reason expectations Israeli authorities would bar voting in East Jerusalem, which Palestinian see as a future capital and Israel annexed after the 1967 Middle East war.
We are all in agreement that Jerusalem has to be included in the election, Abbas said while visiting Qatar.
PERSONAL STAKE
Israel calls all of the city its eternal capital -- a status not recognized internationally -- and had at first said police would not permit East Jerusalem voting because of the participation of Hamas, sworn to the Jewish state's destruction.
Government officials later backed away from the threat, saying they did not want to be used as an excuse for a delay in voting.
Nonetheless, Palestinian senior negotiator said the Israelis have still not given us a clear answer on polling in Jerusalem, with the election campaign under way.
Israel allowed voting in Jerusalem for the last Palestinian parliamentary election in 1996, which Hamas boycotted. Israel says all Palestinian political activity in East Jerusalem itself is banned under interim accords. Palestinians reject this.
Despite Fatah's troubles, Abbas has a big personal stake in ensuring that elections happen on time.
His message to Western backers has been that they will strengthen democracy, and also help tame Hamas by bringing it into the political mainstream. Western favor is vital for Abbas in his push to end five years of fighting and win statehood.
Fatah: Builders for the future, read a faction campaign poster in Ramallah, the West Bank hub of Palestinian politics.
But Abbas's authority has been undermined by internal disorder, particularly since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September intensified complex local power struggles.
Conflict with Israel is also growing and militant groups announced the end of a de facto truce as of January 1. An Israeli air strike killed two Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza on Monday. Israel said one of them oversaw cross-border rocket salvoes.
Violence is also a headache for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he bids for a third term in a March election.
An Israeli newspaper said on Monday Sharon plans eventually to scrap a U.S.-backed road map peace plan, citing Abbas's failure to crack down on militants, and instead seek Washington's blessing for annexing parts of the West Bank.
(Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah)