 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members vowed to obey orders from their Islamist groups to boycott Sunday's Palestinian election as frontrunner Mahmud Abbas urged a massive turnout to bolster his legitmacy. "I won't vote and I don't believe in these things. This election is an Israeli-American game just marketed for the Palestinians to distract them from their struggles. Nothing less," said Abu Mohammed from Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza.
| "Real Moose limbs don't need no damned elections! We got holy men to rule us! If you can't trust holy men, who can you trust? Us Paleostinians yearn for the days when we have a caliph again, with a big jeweled turban and dancing girls and a grand vizier and curly-toed slippers!" |
"I support Islamic Jihad, but I was going to boycott the elections even before they called for it," said the 32-year-old sign painter from the run-down Jabaliya refugee camp. Consenting to talk only in deserted strawberry patches in the northern Gaza Strip, a 24-year-old engineering graduate and Hamas member said his obedience to the radical faction was total. "Firstly, I don't believe in any of the seven candidates. Secondly, I am a Hamas member. Tomorrow is a day off for me. I'll probably stay home and watch TV," he said, calling himself Abu Mujahid. |