GAZA, 4 December 2005 — Candidates began signing up yesterday for a Palestinian legislative election next month at which the ruling Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas will face its first major challenge from powerful Islamist faction Hamas.
Beset by violence and allegations of voter fraud during its primaries, Fatah did not yet have a full candidate list ready. Hamas, in its first parliament race, initially also held off registering but started filing local lists later in the day.
The Jan. 25 election in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip is seen as a test for Abbas, both in terms of internal reform efforts and the prospects for peacemaking with Israel.
Israel and the United States are worried at the possibility of a parliamentary sweep by Hamas, which is sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction and has spearheaded a five-year-old uprising. Abbas refused Israeli calls to bar the group from the election.
“I believe Hamas wants to translate its achievements in the field of resistance into the field of politics,” Ghazi Hamad, top Hamas candidate from the Gaza town of Rafah, said. “Maybe being together in Parliament with Fatah will lead to an understanding on how to handle the struggle against Israel.”
Hamas is not alone among hard-liners vying for a say on how negotiations with Israel should be pursued — if at all.
The militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said after registering candidates that it would work to rescind 1993 interim peace accords that Fatah backed.
The party named jailed leader Ahmad Saadat as head of the list to compete in the elections. Israel accuses Saadat of masterminding the assassination of its right-wing cabinet minister Rahvam Zaavi in 2001.
The Israeli Army was not able to apprehend Saadat, who took cover in the headquarters of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. He was later transferred to a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho under US and British supervision in a deal struck by which Israel would lift a siege it has imposed on Arafat’s headquarters for several months in return for keeping Saadat in a Palestinian prison.
Saadat’s nomination caused particular concern in Israel. “This is a man found guilty of murder. Israel views him as a terrorist and not an interlocutor,” said Mark Regev of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The Palestinian Central Elections Committee said dozens of independent candidates also registered by midday, having each mustered the required 500 signatures from supporters.
“I consider today the beginning of a new era in the life of the Palestinian people, a new era in making democracy,” Zayinab Al-Ghunaime, a former Labor Ministry official, said after filing as an independent candidate in Gaza City.
The Palestinian political opposition has been helped by the disarray in Fatah, whose primary vote this month has been marred by fraud charges and violence. Abbas set up a review board to finalize a candidate list to submit by the Dec. 14 deadline.
But the violence, including the storming of polling stations by Fatah gunmen, has undercut Abbas’ drive to rein in chaos in Gaza, seen worldwide as a testing ground for statehood after Israel ended 38 years of military rule there in September.
Fatah’s younger generation is challenging a dominant old guard, many of whose members are widely seen as tainted by corruption. Hamas, which has already made a strong showing in municipal elections, is popular for its charities and transparency. Sources close to Hamas said it would field candidates including religious leaders, the widow of a top fighter assassinated by Israel, military commanders held in Israeli jails, and even a few allied Christian Palestinians.
