ChristiansUnite Forums

Palestinian president overhauls election process in new step to marginalize rival Hamas
The Associated Press
Published: September 2, 2007

RAMALLAH, West Bank: President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday revised Palestinian election laws to favor his Fatah Party — his latest attempt to sideline Hamas since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in June.

In a further snub to his archrivals, Abbas required all presidential and parliamentary candidates to recognize the Fatah-dominated PLO. Hamas condemned the moves as illegal.

Despite the bold moves to shore up his fractured party's position, Abbas aides admitted that he will not be able to set a date for elections until he can assure that voting will take place in Gaza as well as the West Bank. With Hamas firmly in control of Gaza after a lightning sweep that removed Fatah-backed security forces in June, that will not be anytime soon.

Fatah ruled Palestinian politics unopposed for four decades, but people chafed under the corrupt and high-handed tactics of underlings of the late Yasser Arafat. Though Arafat had enough political clout to overcome detractors, his successor, Abbas, does not have the same personal support. As a result, Hamas swept his Fatah out of power in January 2006 elections and formed its first government.

The conflict came to a head after the Gaza takeover by Hamas in June. In response, Abbas fired the Hamas-led government and replaced it with a Cabinet made up of his backers. That left the Palestinians with two competing authorities — a Fatah-led regime in the West Bank and the Hamas regime in Gaza.

The split opened the door for the West to renew aid cut off when Hamas took power. The West is trying to promote Abbas as a moderate alternative to Hamas, an Islamist movement that does not accept the presence of Israel and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into the Jewish state.

The latest effort is a peace conference called for later this year by U.S. President George W. Bush, aiming to break the seven-year deadlock in negotiations.

After meeting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Ramallah, Abbas warned that if agreements are not reached in advance of the conference, "it will be a failure." Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have been meeting regularly and have begun tackling the core issues of the conflict, but no progress has been reported.

Tony Blair, the ex-British prime minister who is serving as the envoy of the "Quartet" of Mideast mediators — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia — will arrive Tuesday for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, ahead of a Quartet meeting toward the end of the month, Blair's spokesman said Sunday.

Focusing on his internal political challenges, Abbas on Sunday decreed a change in the Palestinian electoral system to overcome infighting in his own party. In 2006, the system was made up of districts and territory-wide voting. Hamas swept most of the districts because rival Fatah candidates canceled each other out.

Under the new system, voters will pick parties, not candidates, and the parliament will be divided among the parties in proportion to the votes they receive.

The decree also requires all presidential and parliamentary candidates to recognize the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organization as the "sole, legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people.

Hamas, which is not a PLO member, condemned Abbas' decision as illegal.

"Early parliamentary elections are rejected .. and any amendment to the law is also rejected," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "Hamas objects to this policy of monopolizing decision making and will not deal with its outcome."

Barhoum said only the parliament, which is controlled by Hamas, has authority to change election law. But Abbas said he now holds such authority since parliament is no longer functioning.

In Gaza, Hamas continued to hold nearly 60 Fatah supporters, including 11 minors, who were arrested on rioting and incitement charges at a protest on Friday.

Fatah has organized public rallies for the last two weeks to denounce Hamas' takeover. Hamas accuses Fatah supporters of trying to organize a violent comeback.

Also Sunday, Palestinian militants disrupted the first day of the new school year in Israel by firing three rockets at the southern town of Sderot. No one was hurt. During the summer vacation, Israel reinforced many of the schools near Gaza to try to protect students from the daily Palestinian rocket barrages.

Palestinian president overhauls election process in new step to marginalize rival Hamas (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/02/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Palestinians.php)