Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he has no intention of running again after his current term as chairman of the PA expires in 2008, also predicting sweeping changes from this month's parliamentary election.
Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Abbas said the new Palestinian parliament to be elected on January 25 will offer a ‘new type’ of democracy, welcoming the participation of other factions in the race. His ruling party Fatah has controlled the Palestinian Authority since the first parliamentary election in 1996.
Abbas was elected a year ago to replace Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11. ‘The presidency is four years, and it is possible (legally) to go for another term,’ Abbas told reporters. ‘But from now, I say, this ... will not happen.’
Abbas, 70, said the next election should be for a vice president as well as a president, but that would require parliamentary action.
On concerns that the parliamentary elections may be marred with violence, Abbas repeated that he ordered his security forces to prevent anyone with a gun from getting close to the polling stations.
‘Security forces implemented a plan a month ago to protect the ballot boxes and the voting,’ he said, adding that he gave orders that force must be met with force.
Abbas said he knows the Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and is looking forward to working with him.
Olmert has been acting prime minister since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was felled by a massive stroke on January 4. On Sunday, Olmert's Cabinet approved Palestinian voting in Jerusalem for the election, clearing away an issue that threatened to cause postponement of the vote.
However, the cabinet decision forbids members of ‘terror’ organizations from running in the election. Police arrested on Sunday the number-two man on the Hamas party list for the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Tir. Two candidates for the Hamas list in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Tutah and Ahmed Atun, were also arrested.
Also arrested were two people who organized the event. The five are suspected of illegal campaigning in East Jerusalem.
The candidates were planning to hold a press conference at the entrance to the Temple Mount, but police arrested them immediately upon their exit from the Temple Mount grounds.
Tutah serves as a lecuturer on Islamic law at a college in East Jerusalem; Atun has preached armed struggle against Israel in the past.
Abu Tir told Haaretz on Saturday that the relatively moderate platform Hamas presented for the upcoming elections is not just a tactical move, but represents a change in the group's strategy.
EU chief welcomes cabinet decision to allow E. Jerusalem voting
The European Union welcomed on Sunday the cabinet decision allowing Palestinians to vote in parliamentary elections in East Jerusalem later this month.
The EU ‘expects Israel to facilitate electoral operations, including movement of candidates and voting officials as well as of local and international observers,’ said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Solana also welcomed the decision by the Palestinian Authority to ensure
security of the electoral operations and safety of voters, she said in a
statement.
‘Elections are an essential step in the building of a democratic Palestinian state, in the perspective of the two state solution. They are an important milestone in the implementation of Palestinian roadmap obligations,’ Gallach said.
Votes will be cast at post offices in East Jerusalem, as was the arrangement in the 1996 and 2005 elections. According to estimates, only 1,000 East Jerusalem residents will vote in the elections.
Outgoing Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the cabinet decision constitutes a dangerous concession that will put Israel in a very difficult position in the future.
‘[Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's decision was that if Hamas takes part in elections, they would not be held in East Jerusalem,’ Shalom said.
‘I welcome this decision,’ Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, calling on international election observers to ensure that election campaigning and the voting wouldn't be impeded.
Erekat condemned the cabinet's exclusion of candidates from Hamas from the East Jerusalem race.
‘All parties and candidates who registered with the Central Election Committee have the full right to campaign in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem,’ Erekat said.
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said Israel's restrictions diminished Palestinian sovereignty over the election.
‘Hamas and other factions are able to carry out their election campaign in many ways and in different methods despite the Zionist blackmail,’ Masri said.
MK Shimon Peres, number two on the Kadima list, will leave on Sunday night for a week-long trip to the U.S., where he will meet in Washington with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, and the president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz. Peres will be accompanied by former Foreign Ministry director Avi Gil.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom is to leave the ministry on Sunday. A ceremony marking the entry of Tzipi Livni to the post is scheduled for Tuesday.