Commission Says Most E. Jerusalem Palestinians Can Vote in Polls
The majority of Palestinian residents of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem can vote in landmark Palestinian legislative elections set for next month, the electoral commission said Monday.
However, several thousand may yet still be excluded amid concerns that the vote -- the first in 15 years -- might not get off the ground at all.
The legislative polls are due to take place on May 22, ahead of a planned presidential vote in July.
Some 150,000 east Jerusalem voters will be able to cast ballots at polling stations on the outskirts of the city, in a process that does not require a green light from Israel, the electoral commission said.
Separately, 6,300 others are allowed to vote in east Jerusalem itself but in post offices under Israeli supervision, in line with the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinians say it is critical to allow even limited voting inside the bounds of east Jerusalem, which they hope will be the capital of their future state.
Israel granted approval for voting in post offices in the 2006 legislative elections but did not say if the same will be true this time around, Palestinian electoral commission spokesperson Fareed Taamallah said.
"They didn't respond to the request from the Palestinian Authority to implement the (Oslo) protocol," he said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, 86, has said elections would not be able to proceed if Palestinians in east Jerusalem are not able to vote.
Attorney Diana Buttu, a former legal advisor to Palestinian negotiators, said the east Jerusalem vote could still prove a stumbling block to elections, not only due to potential voting restrictions.
"There's a lot of technical things you can do to get around these hurdles -- but that's not the point," she said.
The point is that candidates expect to "be able to go to Jerusalem, campaign in Jerusalem, vote in Jerusalem. Without those guarantees I can see that being a reason for them to want to cancel (the vote)".
About 60 candidates in the Palestinian elections are from east Jerusalem.
Israel generally bars Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem, and over the weekend it briefly arrested three candidates who were planning to meet in the city.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said he "condemns" the arrests and moves by Israel to "prevent east Jerusalem candidates from holding news conferences".
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 and views the whole city as its capital.
Palestinian voters say they hope the elections can bring about an internal reconciliation between their two main political factions -- Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Voters are set to choose from among 36 lists, including one from Hamas and several from Fatah.
Source: Agence France Presse
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