The new Palestinian leadership on Sunday set January 9 for elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority.
But in a sign of the potential upheaval the ballot could cause within the occupied territories, gunmen opened fire in protest at the arrival of Mahmoud Abbas, the former prime minister who is thought likely to win the election, at a mourning tent for Arafat in Gaza City. A bodyguard was killed and five people injured.
Shortly after Abbas arrived with the former Gaza security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, a group of about 20 masked gunmen entered the tent. Some of them shouted: ”Abbas and Dahlan are agents for the Americans”. Then they opened fire in the air; security men responded.
It was not immediately clear who the gunmen were but they are thought likely to be from within Abbas’s fractured Fatah movement. Witnesses said the shooting appears to have been a protest, rather than an attempt to assassinate the new Palestine Liberation Organisation leader, characterised by critics as a collaborationist because he is favoured by the US and Israel.
Palestinian officials said the election date had been agreed two days after Arafat’s burial in an effort to reassure Palestinians and foreign governments that there will be a ballot within the 60 days required by law.
On Friday, United States President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in Washington that they considered elections a prerequisite for reviving the moribund Middle East peace process.
In the interim, the speaker of Parliament, Ruhi Fatouh, has been sworn in as the caretaker president of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, said elections for a new Parliament will be held during the first quarter of next year. Nominations for the presidential ballot will open on Saturday and close 10 days later.
Though Fatah’s central committee is thought to favour Abbas, the family and political associates of the jailed Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, have said he is interested in running for president.
Barghouti, who is serving five consecutive life terms for murder, has strong appeal on the Palestinian street as the former head of Fatah’s armed wing in the West Bank.
If Barghouti does put himself forward, Fatah will face a choice between seeking to revive peace talks in the short term with Abbas and the return of refugees.
Or Fatah could pursue a longer-term strategy if, as many believe, the present Israeli government is not serious about negotiations, by choosing Barghouti who has more credibility with the public but who would probably be rejected by Ariel Sharon as a negotiating partner. Israel has ruled out an early release for Barghouti.
Hamas, the main rival to Fatah, has still not said whether it will field a candidate in the PA presidential race.
Palestinian leaders have called for Israel to ease the occupation on the ground, by lifting military roadblocks and severe restrictions on movement, to permit campaigning and a free election.
Sharon on Sunday hinted that he may allow Palestinians resident in occupied east Jerusalem to vote in a PA presidential ballot. Two months ago, the police shut down Palestinian election registration offices in the city that Israel claims in its entirety as its capital. But the Oslo accords require the government to permit the 230 000 Arabs in east Jerusalem to vote for the Palestinian government, as when Arafat was elected in 1996.
On Sunday, Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, said he is opposed to allowing Jerusalem residents to vote in the PA election. ”We are of the opinion that east Jerusalem is part of the state of Israel and thus we don’t think this should be allowed,” he told Israel Radio. But Sharon told his Cabinet yesterday that the government might have to follow the precedent of 1996.
The electoral commission has recently updated voter rolls with 1,6-million Palestinians in preparation for local elections in December, and presidential and parliamentary ballots that had in any case been planned for next year. But electoral registration may be reopened now the nature of the election has changed. – Guardian Unlimited Â