JERUSALEM, 8 January 2005 — Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti was briefly detained by Israeli police in Jerusalem yesterday, as frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas drew heavily on the late Yasser Arafat’s legacy in the last day of campaigning.
As Palestinians prepared to vote tomorrow, violence continued in the occupied territories, where two Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli Army in the Gaza Strip yesterday, while an Israeli was killed and three others wounded in a Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank.
Barghouti, a 51-year-old physician and prominent human rights and democracy campaigner who has emerged as an unlikely force in the campaign, was detained by Israeli security as he attempted to reach Jerusalem’s revered Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to join Friday prayers. “You are arresting a presidential candidate who has a permit to be in Jerusalem,” he shouted, as he was bundled into the back of a white van.
“Sunday will be a great day for the Palestinians to show we can have democratic practices even under occupation, with the presence of 703 checkpoints and when candidates like me get arrested and beaten,” he said at a press conference before his detention. “If we win this election, we will lead this country to a better future. If we don’t, I am already the leader of the democratic opposition movement and I will continue in that role,” he told reporters in English.
Israeli security officials also ordered Palestinian presidential candidate Bassam Al-Salhi out of east Jerusalem yesterday as he was addressing supporters, his campaign manager said. Abbas, meanwhile, in brief comments to reporters marking Martyrs Day, said: “Arafat reminds us the huge sacrifices made by the Palestinian people to free his land and obtain an independent state.” Abbas was also expected to travel to the West Bank Jerusalem suburbs of Al-Ram and Bir Nabala but decided not to proceed with initial plans to attend Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Certain reasons have prevented me from going there (Jerusalem) today but I will visit many times in the future. It is close to our hearts and will be the capital of the Palestine,” he told reporters in Ramallah where he presided over formal opening of a new park.“Palestinians would never “accept anything less than a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”, he added.
On Saturday, the Israeli Army is due to start easing its clampdown on the Palestinian territories to give voters more freedom to travel on election day.
While no major snags appeared to threaten the election, the vote comes against the backdrop of tension on the Israeli political scene. A new government was expected to be announced on Monday, in what would be a decisive step in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s efforts to press on with his plan to unilaterally “disengage” from the Palestinians and withdraw from the Gaza Strip. On Friday, 34 reserve officers living in West Bank Jewish settlements were summoned by their command over a petition calling on fellow servicemen to disobey Gaza evacuation orders. They backtracked on their statement after being warned that they faced the sack.
