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Israel allows Palestinian ballot

Chris McGreal

Move to block Hamas participation is anti-democratic, say Palestinians

Jerusalem: Under pressure from Washington, the Israeli Government said on Tuesday it would allow Arab residents of East Jerusalem to vote in Palestinian parliamentary elections this month — an issue which had threatened to derail the ballot. But the Government says it will not permit Hamas to appear on ballots used in the city. Before he suffered a stroke last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered that candidates be prevented from campaigning in Jerusalem and threatened to stop the vote in the city on January 25. Ostensibly the issue was the participation of Hamas in the election, but Mr. Sharon also saw the voting as an encroachment on Israel's claim to sovereignty over the Arab east of the city occupied in 1967.

On Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the American Government had told him that Israel would modify its position. On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz announced that East Jerusalem Palestinians would be allowed to vote on the same terms as in earlier elections. ``Israel will follow the same policy as in the 1996 elections, which means it will allow people to vote at five post offices in East Jerusalem,'' Mr. Mofaz said in a statement. The decision will be ratified by a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The Foreign Ministry said the voting was conditional on Hamas candidates not appearing on ballots used in Jerusalem. However, they are usually identified as belonging to an alliance of Islamist parties.

The Palestinian leadership has denounced Israeli efforts to block Hamas participation in the election as anti-democratic and interference. The U.S. and other western governments have been torn over the issue, believing that a group with the support of a third or more of Palestinian voters cannot be excluded from the political process. But they have said once Hamas is represented in Parliament, it must disarm and end its war against Israel if it wishes to be accepted by the outside world.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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