WEST BANK/GAZA: Gaza bury victims of Israeli airstrike further pressuring Abbas to put off January ballot as campaigning underway

Record ID: 347112

  • Title: WEST BANK/GAZA: Gaza bury victims of Israeli airstrike further pressuring Abbas to put off January ballot as campaigning underway
  • Date: 3rd January 2006
  • Summary: WIDE OF PALESTINIAN CABINET MEETING; WIDE PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER AHMED QURIE CONVENING CABINET MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AHMED QURIE SAYING: "We wish that Israel will not carry any actions to stop the process of the elections, specially in Jerusalem. Yesterday they (Israel) detained two of our brothers (Fatah candidates) in Jerusalem. This is not a positive act."
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6XMBMLSXD5HB9GLTZ62230GQ9
  • Story Text: Campaigning began on Tuesday (January 3) for a
    Palestinian legislative election clouded by speculation
    that President Mahmoud Abbas, mired in conflict with Israel
    and facing a challenge from rival Islamists, could delay
    voting.
    In Gaza, the Islamic militant group Hamas, popular
    among Palestinians for its charities and suicide bombings
    against Israel and Fatah's most robust rival, announced the
    start of its election campaign.
    "Hamas will run into election in order to protect the
    program of resistance and to use the parliament as a stage
    to defend it and to stand against whoever would think to
    mess with the rights of the Palestinian people," said
    senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya during a news conference
    in Gaza city to announce the start of the election
    campaign.
    As the campaigning kicked off, several thousand mourners
    marched in a funeral procession for two Islamic Jihad
    militants killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday (January 2, 2006).
    The Israeli military said it launched the "aerial
    strike", which targeted a vehicle carrying a senior member
    of Islamic Jihad in the Jebalya refugee camp.
    Mourners chanted angrily as they marched through the
    streets of Gaza city, shooting assault rifles in the air.
    With Fatah divided between veteran members and a young
    guard vying for influence, Abbas has come under pressure
    within the faction to delay the election.
    Abbas raised this possibility of a delay on Monday
    (January 2), citing as his reason expectations Israeli
    authorities would bar voting in East Jerusalem, which
    Palestinian see as a future capital and Israel annexed
    after the 1967 Middle East war.
    But in Ramallah, Deputy Prime Minitser Nabil Shaath
    announced the start of the Fatah's election campaign.
    "We call upon them (The factions) for an honest
    election process and a friendly and brotherly election
    process for the interest of the Palestinian people and to
    build a democratic life," Shaath told supporters who
    gathered around the late President Yasser Arafat's grave.
    Despite Fatah's troubles, Abbas has a big personal
    stake in ensuring that elections happen on time.
    His message to Western backers has been that they will
    strengthen democracy, and also help tame Hamas by bringing
    it into the political mainstream. Western favour is vital
    for Abbas in his push to end five years of fighting and win
    statehood.
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