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Israel on alert as Hamas leads

Peter Beaumont

Jerusalem: The acting Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is to hold urgent talks with senior Cabinet members and security officials to discuss Israel's response to the strengthening wave of support for Hamas in Palestinian territories.

The talks come as it has become clear that the organisation — best known in the West for sponsoring terrorist attacks — is certain to command a substantial share of the vote in this week's Palestinian elections, with profound consequences for the West Asia peace process.

Voting begins

The first voting in the elections began on Saturday as thousands of members of the Palestinian security forces cast their ballots ahead of Wednesday's crucial poll.

Some 58,000 security personnel have been allowed to vote in advance of the elections to free them on January 25 to protect polling sites in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem amid fears of political violence.

Two polls on Friday showed Hamas and the late Yasser Arafat's Fatah neck-and-neck in the last few days of campaigning.

Support for Hamas, which is standing in elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council for the first time, has been buoyed up by its promise to root out corruption and its reputation for discipline and organisation in contrast to Fatah's endless in-fighting that — in Gaza in particular — has left a vacuum of power. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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