Palestinians vote in landmark municipal elections, row over Blair conference

25 December 2004

http://news.lycos.co.uk/int/041223213242.29a7ji4n.xml.html

Palestinians voted in the first council elections for three decades amid a row over British Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to prepare the birth of a democratic state at a London conference.

"This is a first step towards democracy and the establishment of our future state," Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei told reporters after casting his ballot in his West Bank home town of Abu Dis.

"These elections are being held in difficult conditions. But they are a reflection of the democratic voice that we have chosen to build our Palestinian state."

Qorei was among the 140,000 registered voters electing 886 candidates in 26 municipalities across the West Bank for the first time in 28 years.

The polls had been due to close at 7:00pm (1700 GMT) but election officials extended the vote for a further two hours amid a high turnout which local government minister Jamal Shubaki predicted could reach 90 percent.

While the elections do not cover any of the main cities in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, they are seen as a significant test of the mainstream Fatah movement's popularity ahead of next month's presidential election.

They also mark the first time that the Islamic militant group Hamas has participated in the democratic process.

Hamas is boycotting the January 9 election to find a successor to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, leaving the path clear for the official Fatah candidate and PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas.

Abbas emphasised the importance he attached to the democratic process, urging voters to "rise to the challenge" and turn out in force on Thursday.

"You are determining your future in these elections and you are deciding on the running of your own municipal affairs in a democratic manner without outside interference and under the shadow of the problems created by the Israeli occupation," he said in a statement.

Abbas is aware that a strong showing for Hamas in the municipal elections could undermine his claim to speak for all the Palestinian people after his likely victory in the presidential election.

Blair told Abbas on Tuesday that he wanted to host a conference in March to help forge democratic institutions which would ensure the viability of a future state for the Palestinians and their status as "a proper partner for peace".

Abbas had welcomed the prospect of a conference but Qorei said some of Blair's comments were "unacceptable".

"We have heard ... about his wish to host a conference to groom the Palestinians to take part in the peace process," Qorei said in a statement.

"We reject these unacceptable declarations for we are already groomed and we have the necessary means and expertise to negotiate."

Hamas also criticised the conference, saying its aim was "to intensify the pressure on the Palestinian Authority to undertake structural reforms for the benefit of Israel."

Ismail Haniya, one of its leaders in Gaza, urged the Palestinian Authority to steer clear of "any conference which aims to turn the page on the intifada without the realisation of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people."

The emergence of the moderate Abbas at the helm of the Palestinians in the aftermath of Arafat's death and the prospect of next year's Israeli pullout of the Gaza Strip has encouraged hopes of a breakthrough in the peace process.

However nationalist opposition to the withdrawal is gathering steam, with a lengthening list of plans by hardliners designed to block the process.

Parliamentary sources said Thursday that 12 MPs, led by National Religious Party leader Effi Eitam, have signed a petition promising to physically obstruct the "immoral" evacuation.

The signatories said they "undertook to report to Gush Katif (a settlement bloc in southern Gaza) in its hour of need and to prevent with our bodies the immoral and inhuman eviction of thousands of heroic, pioneering settlers."

The petition follows announcements by settler leaders calling for a campaign of civil disobedience and a siege of parliament.

The Labour party on Thursday designated eight members to fill ministerial posts in a government of national unity it is negotiating with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to help push through the Gaza pull-out plan.

Ofir Pines, Yitzhak Herzog, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, Dalia Yitzik, Matan Vilnai, Shaoul Simhon and Haim Ramo were chosen out of list of 13 candidates. Pines, Herzog and Simhon are seen as part of a rising younger generation who have never held ministerial posts.

Labour party head Shimon Peres is also set to enter the government as the number two in the Sharon cabinet, even if his specific title has yet to be agreed on.