RAMALLAH — Amid uncertainty over whether Palestinian parliamentary elections will go ahead at all, campaigning officially started yesterday throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.
Fateh kicked off its campaign in Ramallah at the site of Yasser Arafat's grave, while Hamas promised to combat corruption from its stronghold in Gaza. In occupied Jerusalem, meanwhile, at least four candidates were arrested as several independents decided to open their campaign there.
The participation of Jerusalemites in the elections has become the issue that could determine whether or not the vote, scheduled for Jan. 25, will go ahead. On Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would be forced to cancel elections if Jerusalemites were barred from voting.
Israel has threatened to ban Palestinians from voting in Jerusalem, but has delayed a final decision. Veteran Israeli politician Shimon Peres told Al Jazeera satellite station yesterday that the decision depended on the Palestinians.
‘This question has not been answered yet. We are waiting to see what will happen on the Palestinian side.’
Nevertheless, Israeli police arrested at least four candidates — Mustapha Barghouthi, head of the Palestine National Initiative who came second in the presidential election last year, Nasser Qous, Ahmed Ghneim and Hamdi Rajabi, all independents — in Jerusalem for ‘illegal activity on behalf of the PA,’ according to police spokesman, Shmuel Ben-Ruby.
Barghouthi's office said the candidate had been ‘meeting with ordinary Jerusalemites near Damascus Gate, discussing their needs and the situation of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.’
‘He was approached by six undercover Israeli security agents, arrested, and taken to the Russian Compound jail where he remains under detention,’ said a statement on Tuesday.
As a resident of the West Bank, Barghouthi would have been automatically liable for arrest according to Israeli law unless he had prior authorisation to be in Jerusalem.
Veteran Palestinian politician and member of the outgoing Palestinian Legislative Council, Hanan Ashrawi, also started her campaign for reelection in Jerusalem, but was confronted by Israeli police outside the Damascus Gate and ordered to take down a sign bearing the name of her party, ‘The Third Way,’ which is headed by former finance minister Salam Fayyad.
‘All we did was explain our platform to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem,’ said Ashrawi, who is a resident of the city and escaped detention.
‘It is our right to explain our platform to our constituents. There is no reason to intervene forcibly and take down our banners.’
Commenting on the Israeli action, Veronique de Keyser, head of the European Union observer mission to the elections, told Reuters: ‘I am slightly shocked and it is not a very encouraging sign.’
In Ramallah, former deputy prime minister Nabil Shaath kicked off Fateh's campaign by pledging to fight corruption both in Fateh and the PA. He also called for honest elections to show the world ‘we are capable of building our state and institutions.’
Hamas also vowed to fight corruption and made clear its opposition to any delay of elections as senior leaders launched the group's campaign in Gaza City.
‘There is a Palestinian crisis, and elections are a first step towards resolution,’ Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. ‘Now we can say that our people are on the threshold of a new era, an era of real change and reform.’
The head of Hamas' Reform and Change list, Ismail Haniyeh, said Fateh leaders had recently proposed a delay of the vote but that Hamas had rejected it.
‘The brothers in Fateh had proposed to postpone the elections for different reasons, but we have told them that postponing the elections will lead to a vacuum and to a dark future,’ Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza City. ‘Postponing the elections is not the solution. We urged them to go ahead.’
In Washington, meanwhile, a White House spokesman yesterday said US President George W. Bush wants Palestinian elections to go forward as scheduled and thinks Palestinians should be allowed to vote in East Jerusalem.
‘It's our desire to see the elections go forward as scheduled,’ the spokesman said. ‘We believe that people must have access to the ballot. Arrangements have been made in the past to ensure that those persons can vote and we believe some arrangements should be possible at this time.’