Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday the
Cabinet would decide next week whether to allow Palestinians to
vote in Jerusalem during Palestinian parliamentary elections.
If the Cabinet approves the plan, it would resolve a dispute
that threatened to derail the Jan. 25 election.
Olmert told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a phone
conversation that the Cabinet would vote on the matter at its
weekly meeting Sunday, according to a statement from Olmert's
office. Rice had called Olmert for an update on the condition of
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was hospitalized after a massive
stroke.
Israel had threatened to prevent the voting in Jerusalem, which
had been allowed in previous elections, because of the presence on
the ballot of Hamas, a militant group pledged to the destruction of
Israel. A Cabinet decision to allow the voting to go forward would
be contingent on Hamas not participating, Olmert's statement
said.
Israeli officials gave conflicting accounts as to whether the
proposal would pass.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday that Israel would
allow Jerusalem voting along the same lines as previous Palestinian
elections, when it permitted some residents to cast absentee
ballots at post offices. The remainder of voters cast ballots in
West Bank suburbs.
"Israel's policy regarding elections in east Jerusalem will stay
like it was," Mofaz told reporters while on a tour near Jerusalem.
The arrangements were reached under interim peace agreements in the
mid-1990s.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said there would be
no voting in Jerusalem.
"Israel is of the opinion — and it was an opinion widespread
when Prime Minister Sharon was still functioning as a
decision-maker — that under the present circumstances, residents of
east Jerusalem are not to be allowed to vote in Jerusalem itself
but only in the adjoining (West Bank) villages," he said.
The dispute reflects internal Israeli politics. Shalom is in
Likud, the hard-line party Sharon left to set up his centrist
Kadima, which Mofaz joined. Israel's parliamentary elections are
March 28.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he had not heard
anything official from the Israelis. "If this is the case, I
welcome this position of the Israeli government," he said.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as
its capital. The Palestinians claim the eastern sector of the city
as capital of a future state.
Israel had been threatening to prevent voting in Jerusalem
because the Islamic group Hamas, which is committed to Israel's
destruction, is running.
On Tuesday, Israel's Security Cabinet recommended that the
government boycott elected Hamas representatives unless the group
accepts Israel and lays down its weapons, said security officials
speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to disclose details.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had said the election would be
canceled if Palestinians in east Jerusalem weren't allowed to vote,
but said in a televised address Monday that he had received
assurances from the US that Jerusalem voting would be allowed.
Olmert's announcement came a day before a team of US envoys were
scheduled to arrive to help resolve the dispute.
Israeli police also reversed a ban on allowing Palestinian
candidates to campaign in Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, police published conditions for the campaigning,
saying that members of terror groups, such as Hamas or Islamic
Jihad, were still banned. Other candidates could hold meetings in
private homes, but assemblies in public buildings would require a
police permit.
Rallies in open spaces were banned and election posters were to
be displayed only on notice boards put up for the purpose by the
municipality. Posters on vehicles were also banned, but small
bumper stickers were permitted, the statement said.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies January 11, 2006)
