Palestinians in Jerusalem boycotted municipal elections in the city, insisting on a decades-long approach despite the nomination of an Arab list this time.
Israeli figures showed that less than two percent of the Arabs who have the right to vote in Jerusalem, around 250,000 Palestinians, participated in this year’s elections.
This fact has reflected a near-total commitment to calling for a boycott of municipal elections in Jerusalem.
According to Israeli media, the boycott was not individual or spontaneous; instead, it was the result of political pressure and popular and national efforts.
Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat praised the "historic and steadfast position of our Jerusalemites in refraining from the participation in the municipal elections in Jerusalem and their refusal to grant legitimacy to the occupation authority, which implements colonial policies in the city.”
He stressed that they have established the national approach, which has been existing and inherited throughout generations since the occupation of the city in 1967.
He explained that this approach lies in the fact that Jerusalem will remain Palestinian Arab and the capital of the State of Palestine, no matter how long the occupation remains.
“Participating in the elections will help the Israeli establishment in promoting its ‘Greater Jerusalem’ project… and play a complementary role in implementing its colonial settlement plan and ethnic cleansing operations,” Erekat said in a statement in June.
"Although Israel and the US have been adopting illegal policies against the holy city and desperately attempting to pass the Greater Jerusalem project, the only historical, legal and political fact is that Jerusalem is an occupied Palestinian land and an integral part of the occupied state of Palestine and only its people have the right to decide their destiny," Erekat stressed.
“The participation rate of Jerusalemites in the recent elections, which did not exceed 1.5 percent and has been decreasing throughout the years, demonstrates the great people’s will, adherence to all their inalienable rights, awareness of the dangers of this stage, attempts to involve them in the legitimization of occupation, annexation, settlement and Judaization, and the abolition of the Palestinian presence from the city,” Erekat explained.
Erekat has always called on people to refrain from voting. His calls were supported by a fatwa issued by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Mohammed Hussein.
He stressed that the Supreme Fatwa Council in Palestine decided to issue the edict prohibiting the participation in the municipal elections on the basis of clear evidence.
