GAZA CITY, 1 October 2005 — President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement won big in civic polls. The ruling Palestinian movement yesterday held off a challenge from Hamas in a fresh round of elections in the West Bank where the Israelis indulged in more deadly violence.

Hamas, looking to break into the political mainstream while still pursuing its armed campaign against Israel, failed to make significant inroads during elections which were held in 104 municipalities on Thursday.

Preliminary results, announced yesterday by elections chief Jamal Shobaki, showed Abbas’ Fatah faction had won 51 of the councils while Hamas had gained control of only 13 in an 81-percent turnout.

The results will be a disappointment for Hamas, robbing it of some of the momentum that it had built up during its strong showing in previous rounds of local elections.

Hamas is planning to field candidates in January’s legislative elections for the first time despite threats from Israel to hamper the polls in the occupied West Bank if the movement, which does not recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist, participates.

Commentators however played down the wider implications of the results of the latest elections which were largely held in villages, saying local issues and tribal affiliations were the main factor in determining how people voted.

“The tribal factor played a primary role. The main factor was the municipal services being promised by different candidates and the political dimension did not really feature in the minds of the electorate,” political analyst Zakaria Al-Qaq told AFP.

“The results cannot serve as an indicator for the outcome of the legislative elections. Instead, the fourth and final phase of the municipal elections in December, which will see voters cast their ballots in the main cities of the West Bank and Gaza, will be a more important political radar,” the analyst added.

Organizers reported no incidents of Israeli authorities hampering the voting on Thursday but Israel is still trying to whip up international opposition to Hamas’ right to stand in the January elections.

Despite its embrace of the political process, Hamas has snubbed Abbas’ demands to lay down its weapons in the aftermath of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip which was completed on Sept. 12.

The Israeli Army has arrested more than 500 Palestinians in the West Bank, including a number of Hamas election candidates, since the weekend after dozens of rockets were fired into Israel from the movement’s Gaza stronghold.

During an operation to arrest 16 activists in the Nablus area of the northern West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead two members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah, while a third was seriously wounded. A 13-year-old boy, Uday Tantawi, was also killed in a refugee camp in the same region by Israeli soldiers.

Speaking to reporters in Gaza City, Abbas deplored the latest bloodshed, warning that it threatened the already shaky truce being adhered to by militant groups.

“This endangers the quiet that we are trying to implement,” he said. “There is nothing happening in Gaza and I am sure there is also nothing happening in the West Bank... Israel is following these gunmen without any reason,” he said.

The White House, meanwhile, said US President George W. Bush will host Abbas on Oct. 20 for talks expected to focus on efforts to crack down on anti-Israel attacks.

“The president looks forward to discussing with President Abbas Palestinian efforts to improve governance, revive their economy, institute security reform, and fight terror,” the president’s spokesman Scott McClellan said.

— With input from agencies