Jerusalem vote "tied" to Sharon's health

A Fatah Christian candidate on the Palestinian election: with the Olmert regency, the decision about voting in occupied Jerusalem may be deferred. It may even be difficult to push ahead with the electoral campaign. Then there are problems linked to the elections and the internal workings of the PNA.

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) – Everything is at a standstill now. Until last night, Bernard Sabela, Christian candidate for the Fatah party, was sure that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would have come to an agreement about the controversial Palestinian vote in east Jerusalem, but Sharon's health conditions have changed all that. In an interview with AsiaNews, Sabela said the Olmert regency could create a climate of "suspension", which would make the Palestinian electoral campaign "more difficult", postponing the decision about the voting ban in east Jerusalem.

In this climate, the Palestinians are going to the polls on 25 January for the first time since 1996 to elect their legislative council, the parliament of a future Palestinian state. The Israeli government has decided that Palestinians in the eastern part of Jerusalem will not be able to vote, due to participation in the poll of Hamas – considered by Tel Aviv to be merely a terrorist group. But it said it is willing to negotiate with Hamas if the movement renounces its armed struggle and to the principle of destruction of the Jewish state.

Sabela said: "They are not justified in preventing Palestinians of east Jerusalem from going to vote". The election should be held, he continued, and Israel should not intervene in PNA internal matters, this would be a mistake. "The Oslo treaty stipulates that Palestinians in east Jerusalem should be able to vote within the Old City. Israel's attitude is mistaken: even the White House has asked that the vote be allowed to go ahead". Hamas has no intention of putting off the election. "If the vote is postponed, I foresee a gloomy future for these lands," said Ismail Hanya, one of the movement's leaders.

To those who think that delaying the ballot would be welcomed by Fatah because they may be able to get consensus on Hamas, Sabela had this to say: "We will not gain unity by postponing the vote". Besides, Hamas does not seem to pose a real threat for him: "Fatah has ample backing among the population and it will get a good number of seats."

When the last local elections were held, Hamas got a very good result. However, according to the Christian candidate, the Palestinians are "mature enough to understand that a ballot at town level is different to that at national level: the experience of Fatah in negotiating with the Israelis, Europeans and Americans confirms its capacity to be an authoritative political reality on international level."

Beyond the electoral result, Sabela pinpointed the "three most urgent challenger" facing the new legislature. The first: "Reaching agreement in a clear manner about where we want to go as a society, not only from a political and economic viewpoint, but also from an educational, demographic and cultural perspective". He said: "Given the conditions in which we live, we must draw up a clear vision of the future and Fatah can do this, because it has the awareness of past mistakes and the will to avoid them."

Second: Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is a non-city at all levels today. There is no centre of Palestinian culture, for example, and there is a high rate of unemployment among youth. It is vital to reach agreement with Israel".

The third matter is the type of internal political system Palestine wants to adopt. "We need to carry out some self-analysis and then to decide if we want to continue this way or if there is the need to come up with a new political platform."

On the contribution of Christians to the new PNA parliament, Prof. Sabela said:

"The presence of Christians on our government should serve as a reminder that we are one people, which must have a shared vision about a common future. Emigration, unemployment, and economic problems are part of the experience of all Palestinians and they go beyond religion."

• PALESTINE
• ISRAEL
• ELECTIONS
• SHARON
• JERUSALEM
• VOTE
• OCCUPATION