JERUSALEM, 26 December 2005 — Israel yesterday edged away from a ban on voting in East Jerusalem in next month’s Palestinian parliamentary election in order not to give leader Mahmoud Abbas a pretext to delay the ballot.
To clamp down on security following a recent spike in rocket attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pressed the army to create a no-man’s land in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent such assaults, public radio reported.
The polls, to take place on Jan. 25 across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are the first legislative elections since 1996 and could dramatically redraw the political scene with the Hamas group to participate for the first time.
Last Wednesday, a source in Sharon’s office said Israel would bar those in occupied East Jerusalem from participating in the vote, triggering a furious Palestinian response and speculation that the vote may be delayed.
But following a call from the United States for both sides to resolve the dispute, a senior Israeli official appeared to be backing off the hard line.
A Sharon aide told AFP yesterday that the administration “will contemplate” the possibility of Palestinians voting at five polling stations in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and has since annexed.
“Israel has no intention of giving Mahmoud Abbas an excuse to cancel the election because he fears a victory for Hamas and allow him to accuse us before the international community of being responsible for his decision,” he said.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem were allowed to vote both in a Palestinian presidential election last January and in legislative polls in 1996.
At talks with former Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stressed the need for all Palestinians, including those in East Jerusalem, to participate in the election, a Palestinian official said.
“There was no official yes or no,” about East Jerusalem, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity but Erekat confirmed the election would take place on schedule without delay.
Washington has billed the January vote as a milestone in Palestinian democratic development and last week expressed confidence the East Jerusalem dispute could be resolved.
“It is an issue that the Palestinians and the Israelis have worked through before,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.
“I would expect that they would work through once again this issue and find a solution that is acceptable to both sides,” he added. Four days later the Israeli government line appeared to have softened.
“Israel’s final decision on the Palestinian election in Jerusalem will be taken when Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority definitely confirms that elections will be held on the scheduled date,” said the Sharon aide.
Tough competition from the powerful Hamas movement, gearing up to contest its first Palestinian parliamentary election, could pose a serious threat to the decade-long grip on power enjoyed by Abbas’ Fatah party.
The faction has been in disarray over the vote, initially registering two separate lists of candidates, one compiled of the old guard and a second made up of young politicians campaigning for reform.
Fatah has since decided on the single list to clamp down on divisions and maximize its chances of success, although Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has since withdrawn from the race.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israeli Cabinet ministers yesterday that Abbas was in a “considerably” weak position and that it was possible the elections may be postponed, according to an official statement.
