Palestinian Factions, Fatah Refuse to Hold Elections without Jerusalem

An electoral worker leaves the Palestinian Central Elections Commission's office in Gaza City (Reuters)
An electoral worker leaves the Palestinian Central Elections Commission's office in Gaza City (Reuters)
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Palestinian Factions, Fatah Refuse to Hold Elections without Jerusalem

An electoral worker leaves the Palestinian Central Elections Commission's office in Gaza City (Reuters)
An electoral worker leaves the Palestinian Central Elections Commission's office in Gaza City (Reuters)

Palestinian factions announced their support to the Fatah movement which refused to hold elections if Israel did not allow them in Jerusalem.

Member of Fatah Central Committee Hussein al-Sheikh asserted that the elections will take place, adding that Jerusalem is a major issue and “we will not sell Jerusalem for the sake of the elections.”

Sheikh told local radio that Fatah sent an official letter to Israel over two months ago, requesting permission to hold elections in East Jerusalem in accordance with the signed agreements. However, they haven't received an answer till this moment.

He asserted that the decision to hold the elections is purely Palestinian, and no one is allowed to interfere, reiterating that there won’t be elections without Jerusalem, otherwise it is “a recognition of the deal of the century, with Jerusalem as capital of Israel.”

He announced that Fatah is preparing for a single and unified national position of all Palestinian organizations and factions that confirms holding elections in all the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

The Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Front, Wasel Abu Yousef, said that holding elections in Jerusalem is of special importance, in light of the occupation’s attempts to exclude it and enforce the “deal of the century.”

Abu Yusef, who is also a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, told Voice of Palestine radio that it is not acceptable to exclude Jerusalem from the elections.

Member of the People’s Party politburo, Walid al-Awad, warned that it is not permissible to remove the city from the electoral process under any pretext, stressing that this issue is non-negotiable.

He called on the international community to pressure the occupation to prevent disrupting the elections.

On Saturday, Hamas politburo member Mohammad Nazzal said that Hamas is against postponing the elections on the pretext that they will not be allowed in Jerusalem, calling for finding suitable alternatives to hold them in a way that does not disrupt the process.

The issue of holding elections in Jerusalem remains controversial and raises concerns about canceling the long-awaited polls.

Concern began to grow among Europeans and Palestinians after Israel refused to allow the EU’s election observation missions (EUEOMS) into Palestine.

EU media official in Jerusalem Shadi Othman confirmed that Israel still hasn’t allowed the EU mission into Palestine to monitor the upcoming legislative elections.

Othman asserted that the EU supports holding elections in all Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, to achieve a fair, transparent, and democratic process.

He urged Israel not to obstruct the process, adding that the EU believes that the agreements signed between the Israelis and the Palestinians stipulate that elections should be held in East Jerusalem.

Palestinian legislative elections are set to be held on May 22nd.


The Central Elections Commissions (CEC) announced that 36 electoral lists have submitted applications for nomination, saying it has completed the applications of all lists without rejecting any.



Israeli Forces Kill 14 People in Gaza, Force New Displacement in the North

 A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Forces Kill 14 People in Gaza, Force New Displacement in the North

 A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israeli forces deepened their incursion into Beit Hanoun town in the north, forcing most remaining residents to leave.

Residents said Israeli forces besieged shelters housing displaced families and the remaining population, which some estimated at a few thousand, ordering them to head south through a checkpoint separating two towns and a refugee camp in the north from Gaza City.

Men were held for questioning, while women and children were allowed to continue towards Gaza City, residents and Palestinian medics said.

Israel's campaign in the north of Gaza, and the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the area, has fueled claims from Palestinians that it is clearing the area for use as a buffer zone and potentially for a return of Jewish settlers.

"The scenes of the 1948 catastrophe are being repeated. Israel is repeating its massacres, displacement and destruction," said Saed, 48, a resident of Beit Lahiya, who arrived in Gaza City on Wednesday.

"North Gaza is being turned into a large buffer zone, Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing under the sight and hearing of the impotent world," he told Reuters via a chat app.

Saed was referring to the 1948 Middle East Arab-Israeli war which gave birth to the state of Israel and saw the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their hometowns and villages in what is now Israel.

NO PLANS FOR SETTLERS' RETURN

The Israeli military has denied any such intention, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he does not want to reverse the 2005 withdrawal of settlers from Gaza. Hardliners in his government have talked openly about going back.

It said forces have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun during its new military offensive, which began more than a month ago. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed killing several Israeli soldiers during ambushes and anti-tank rocket fire.

On Tuesday, the United States stressed at the United Nations that "there must be no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza" by Israel, warning such policies would have grave implications under US and international law.

Medics said five people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people outside Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, while five others were killed in two separate strikes in Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip where the army began a limited raid two days ago.

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, one man was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike, while three Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, medics added.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel last October, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year, Palestinian health officials say, and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble, where more than 2 million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.