Amid tight security and a sea of green and yellow flags, Palestinians turned out in large numbers Wednesday for their first parliamentary election in a decade — a historic vote integrating Islamic militants into politics and determining the future of peacemaking with Israel.
Both the ruling Fatah Party and its challenger, the Islamic militant group Hamas, said they were confident of victory, while pollsters said the race was too close to call. Both parties said they would consider a coalition if no clear victor emerges.
Long lines formed across the West Bank and Gaza as Palestinians — given a real choice for the first time — were eager to cast their ballots for the 132 parliament seats up for grabs. With three hours of voting left, 57.6 percent of 1.3 million eligible voters had cast ballots.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready to resume peace talks with Israel, even if Hamas joins his government after the vote.
‘We are ready to negotiate,’ Abbas told Israeli reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. ‘We are partners with the Israelis. They don't have the right to choose their partner. But if they are seeking a Palestinian partner, this partner exists.’
Even it doesn't win outright, Hamas is widely expected to make a strong showing that would place the Islamists — responsible for dozens of suicide bombings against Israel — squarely inside the Palestinian political system for the first time.
Hamas' success has alarmed Israel and the West, although Abbas has argued that bringing them into the system will tame them, enabling peace moves to go forward. In an apparent sign of pragmatism, Hamas has not carried out a suicide attacks since a cease-fire was declared a year ago.
But its top parliamentary candidate, Ismail Haniyeh, said Hamas had no intention of laying down its arms after the elections as Abbas has said he expects. And another prominent candidate, Mahmoud Zahar, said his group is ‘not going to change a single word’ in its covenant calling for Israel's destruction.
The Bush administration lists Hamas as a terrorist organization and also refuses to deal directly with it. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Tuesday refused to rule out negotiations with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas ministers.
Abbas, elected a year ago, will still head the Palestinian Authority regardless of Wednesday's results, but the voting will usher in a new Cabinet that could include Hamas members. Israel says it will not deal with Hamas until it disarms.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan called it ‘a historic and significant day for the Palestinian people.’
The day had a festive feel — some party activists decorated their cars with red carnations, as if for a wedding — and few disruptions were reported, despite initial concern about possible violence. In the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, gunmen who had threatened to derail voting checked their automatic rifles at the door before casting their votes.
Emotions ran high in the disputed city of Jerusalem, where right-wing Israeli lawmakers and extremists tried to force their way into a Palestinian polling station, with 75 policemen blocking their way. And in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, police fired into the air to push back a crowd of impatient voters jostling their way into a polling station.
Fatah, tainted by corruption after 12 years in power, was asking voters for another chance to pursue an elusive peace deal with Israel. Hamas has focused on clean government, and criticized Fatah's attempt at compromise with Israel as a sign of weakness.
Activists from both parties were out in full force, handing out lists of candidates' names, baseball hats and scarves. But the Hamas effort appeared more organized than Fatah's.
‘These elections will determine the fate of the Palestinian people,’ said Mohammed Shaabein, a 71-year-old retiree in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
The Beach refugee camp near Gaza City was decorated in a sea of flags — green for Hamas, yellow for Fatah — and the excitement in the air was palpable.
Outside a polling station at a boys' school in the camp, Fatah supporters wore the party's black-and-white checkered scarves decorated with Palestinian flags.
Hamas activists sported green baseball hats, and many of the Hamas women wore full veils and gloves, once a rare sight in Gaza and a sign of the growing influence of fundamentalist Islam in the impoverished coastal strip.
‘We've reached the worst. The most important thing now is change,’ said Raed Abu Hamam, a 35-year-old construction worker in the Beach camp who said he is voting for Hamas.
Some 13,500 police officers deployed at 1,008 polling stations, taking up positions on rooftops and at entrances to enforce a weapons ban.
Nearly 20,000 local observers and 950 international monitors, led by former President Carter, watched the vote. There were some allegations of fraud in the 1996 parliament election and the 2005 presidential election that brought Abbas to power, but international monitors said at the time the problems weren't widespread.
‘Both the Palestinian elections in the past have been very good. They have been honest, fair and free of violence and I hope and believe we will have the same thing today,’ said Carter, who monitored voting in disputed east Jerusalem.
Abbas, who voted in Ramallah, said elections were proceeding smoothly, but complained of Israeli travel restrictions on roads. Israel said it was easing checkpoints on voting day.
‘We are so happy with this election festival,’ Abbas said, after dipping his index finger in ink to prevent double voting.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, seeking a seat in Beit Lahiya, said he expects the group to win the biggest bloc in parliament.
Even then, Hamas has said it doesn't want to rule alone. ‘We did not come to replace anyone or squeeze out anyone. We came to start a new phase in political partnership and unity,’ al-Masri said.
Under Palestinian law, the largest party would be asked to form a government.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Fatah is ready to ‘stand behind’ Hamas if the Islamic movement wins.
The first exit polls were expected about two hours after voting ends at 7 p.m. (noon EST) Wednesday, and official results were expected later Wednesday or Thursday.
The election marked the first time Palestinians have a clear choice between two political camps since Hamas boycotted the 1996 vote.
Hamas is expected to ask for service ministries — health, education and welfare — and to leave diplomacy, including contacts with Israel, to others. Hamas, which has long ruled out negotiations with Israel, has signaled some flexibility on the issue in recent days.
Fatah leaders have also predicted they'll get more than half the parliament seats. But if forced to form a coalition, Fatah prefers to govern with smaller parties and would invite Hamas only if left with no other choice.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped Palestinians would not ‘choose again the extremists who have led them from tragedy to tragedy and to sorrowful lives.’
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Associated Press reporters Mariam Fam and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza and Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus contributed to this report.