| Color me cynical, but Abbas has been the leading and most highly visible candidate to run the Paleo Splodeydope Syndicate and International Aid Sinkhole ever since Brother Arafat failed the Hatpin Test. Why is concern only growing now? |
 AS THE Palestinian bureaucracy gears up for next Sunday's presidential election, fears are growing for the safety of leading candidate Mahmoud Abbas, while Palestinian officials claim Israeli authorities have done little to ensure a smooth election process. | Fears. Whose fears? Nobody's in particular, I see. Just some nameless dread, swirling about Occupied Paleoland. Or perhaps author Annette Young won't reveal her sources... |
In the first major elections since 1996, an estimated 1.5 million voters are expected to turn up at more than 1,000 polling booths across the West Bank and Gaza next Sunday, which has been declared a national holiday by Palestinian authorities. | Holidays are always celebrated with fireworks. And popcorn. And lawn chairs...I've got mine! |
The election will be viewed as an important litmus test for the upcoming Palestinian legislative assembly elections, expected to be held before June. | Again, we have no idea whose "view" has an interest of this election. |
But with just one week to go, there are growing concerns on both Palestinian and Israeli sides that deemed frontrunner and Fatah candidate Abbas is under risk of assassination from militants. A former prime minister, Abbas, who took over the PLO after Arafat's death on November 11, is favoured as a future peacemaker by Israel and the United States. "All of us in the Palestinian peace camp believe this to be a serious concern," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Scotland on Sunday. "But there is a limit to what we can do under Israeli occupation." Aha! Erekat is concerned. Shoulda guessed. And now he goes off to the woodshed. (Gets out hickory axe handle...)
Saeb. Abbas is not being threatened by the Israeli occupation. Stop wringing your hands and crying to the Western press like a schoolgirl. If Mahmoud is being threatened by your dogs, slap a muzzle on 'em, take away their toys, and throw 'em back in the kennel. The Israelis would be delighted to house sit the loonies 'til sometime after the election. If they are too rabid and can't otherwise be controlled, shoot 'em.
But I bet *your* thugz are doing exactly what they've been told. |
On Thursday, Abbas attended a rally in Jenin where he was greeted by a group of some 20 Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade gunmen who let off dozens of rounds of bullets. The gunfire was described as a "greeting" by the militants' leader Zakaria Zubeidi, who is also one of Israel's most wanted men. Although Zubeidi is reportedly suspicious of Abbas's moderate politics and his willingness to negotiate with Israel, he said he will support him. | And here's the real problem. If Abbas acts too much like a moderate, the loonies will kill him. If he throw in with the fundies, Israel just might have to 'let' the loonies kill him. They are pretending to try to have an election, but the hatred and seething is so intense it will burn *anyone* who stands anywhere near it. |
Still, there is severe worry among Palestinian and Israeli security services that other hardline militants may not be so forgiving and will attempt to kill Abbas on the grounds that his candidacy is a threat to their existence. "We believe the major threat comes from Iranian-backed extremist groups who have made it clear that Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is fair game," said Ranan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. | That's an interesting diversion. Look at Iran, not at Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, or Al-Aksa (now Arafat) Martyrs Brigades. All the headbands and masks are just so much campaign materiel. |
In the meantime, officials at the Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) say despite promises from the Israeli government, both candidates and election workers have been unable to move freely. "The reality on the ground, particularly in Gaza, is very different," said Majdi Abu Zaid, the CEC regional co-ordinator in Gaza. "Elections depend heavily on movement, transfer of staff and material, not to mention candidates," he said. "In Gaza, it has been almost impossible to get through checkpoints, and in one case it took us a month to arrange a permit for one of our vans to travel from Gaza City to Rafah." | My sympathy meter almost quivered ther, but I recovered. Exactly what does that have to do with Mahmoud's personal safety? That's right. Exactly nothing. Just a extraneous graf to show us what meanies the Zionists are. |
Erekat, who has been meeting regularly with officials from the Israeli prime minister's office, has urged the international community to place pressure on Israel "to ensure free and fair elections". "I have been and will continue to raise these issues with Dov Weisglass [Sharon's chief of staff]," he said. "But, again, there is only so much we Palestinians can do as we are under Israeli occupation, so it is up to the likes of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush to do their bit." | Knock it off with the "We can't control our trigger fingers cos we're Occupied," Saeb. It's getting old and stale. |
Gissin disputed the Palestinians' claims, arguing that the Israelis had done everything possible to facilitate the elections. "We have provided maximum access for the candidates," he told Scotland on Sunday. "However, I will stress that we have the right to defend ourselves in view of the fact that the Palestinians are doing nothing about reining in terrorists." He added: "There are more extremist groups who want to scuttle this process. The only thing free about this election will be the freedom of armed men to dictate the outcome." | Sadly, I agree with his assessment. |
Most of the seven candidates are running on independent tickets, with the exception of Abbas and Bassam al-Salhi, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Communist Party. However, Abbas is expected to win with a sizeable majority. The CEC says several hundred international observers will join 20,000 local election monitors to ensure the election occurs without hiccups. Other details still to be finalised this week include how to physically collect votes from some 125,000 eligible voters living in East Jerusalem. In 1996, Israeli authorities allowed Palestinian citizens in East Jerusalem to vote by postal ballot, and last week they announced that the same procedures will apply next Sunday. The issue of having polling booths in East Jerusalem is a thorny one for Israel. By allowing polling booths, it would be seen as de facto acknowledgement of Palestinian sovereignty of the city. But CEC officials say that they have yet to receive final confirmation of how the postal vote in East Jerusalem will be conducted. | "We'll get back to you on that." |
Meanwhile, escalating violence in the Gaza Strip is also creating concern for those organising next week's election. A missile fired by an Israeli aircraft killed two Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the second day of an operation the army said was aimed at stopping mortar and rocket attacks on Jewish settlements.| Yup. The Zionists are just randomly firing missiles willy-nilly all over Gaza, especially when Abbas is campaigning. |
N.B. Here is another article written by Annette Young. |