Israel cabinet okays Palestinian Jerusalem vote

JERUSALEM - Israel gave its approval on Sunday for Arab residents of annexed east Jerusalem to vote in this month’s Palestinian election but made clear it would not tolerate campaigning by Islamic militant group Hamas.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally submitted the proposals to cabinet colleagues at only their second meeting since premier Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke 11 days ago.

“I propose to the cabinet that the election in east Jerusalem be conducted on the same basis as in 1996 and 2005,” Olmert told the meeting, in comments carried on Israeli radio.

Palestinians living in east Jerusalem, occupied and then annexed by Israel in 1967, were able to vote in the last parliamentary elections a decade ago and in last January’s presidential election in post offices.

However Olmert said Israel would not allow the radical Islamist movement Hamas to campaign in east Jerusalem.

“Under no circumstances will we permit Hamas to enter Jerusalem and carry out electioneering,” he said.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas had warned that he was ready to cancel the whole election if Arab residents of east Jerusalem were not allowed to take part.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

After meetings with both Olmert and Abbas Friday, Washington’s Middle East envoy had indicated that the United States wanted the election to go ahead in east Jerusalem.

“The United States believes that the Palestinians should be able to vote everywhere,” assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Welch said.

But he also renewed criticism of the participation in the election of Hamas, which is fielding candidates for parliament for the first time in the January 25 poll.

“The view of the US is that there should be no place in the political process for groups and individuals who refuse to denounce terror and violence, who do not recognise Israel’s right to exist and refuse to disarm,” Welch said.

But the uneven playing field created by the Israeli ban on campaiging by Hamas in east Jerusalem has been an embarrassment for Abbas’s ruling Fatah which is facing a serious challenge from the militant group in the vote.

At the party’s campaign launch in east Jerusalem Saturday, Fatah candidates said the ban and other restrictions on electioneering made a mockery of Israel’s claim to be a champion of democracy and demanded that they be rescinded.

“We won’t accept the restrictions,” said Jihad Abu Zneed, the sole woman candidate on the Fatah slate for the city at a meeting which was not cleared beforehead by the Israeli authorities.

“We’re seeking elections like those anywhere else in the world and may the best side win,” said the head of the list, Hatem Abdelkader.

An opinion poll released by Bir Zeit University Saturday showed Hamas trailing Fatah by just five percentage points and gaining fast.

The survey gave Fatah 35 percent support against 30 percent for Hamas, contrasting with October 2005 findings which gave Fatah 45 percent against just 23 percent for Hamas.

In face of the concerns triggered by its rising ratings, a prominent Hamas candidate said in comments published Sunday that the group would not use its newfound electoral power to block future talks with Israel.

“The question of negotiations will be presented to the new parliament and, as with every issue, when we reach the parliament it will be discussed and decided in a rational manner,” Shaikh Mohammed Abu Tir, who is number two on the Hamas slate, told Israeli daily Haaretz.

“We are not saying “never’,” the paper quoted him as saying.

“We’ll negotiate better than the others, who negotiated for 10 years and achieved nothing,” he said in reference to Fatah.

Israel considers east Jerusalem a part of its “undivided eternal” capital, a position not recognised by the international community which regards the eastern sector as occupied territory.