The two elections in Israel and Palestine this spring are meaningless because they only reinforce an unequal structure in which Jewish nationalists contend on one side, Israel, and dictate the terms of the election to the subject population in occupied Palestine. And that’s the news. There’s no news under the burning sun of the Apartheid state.
Hamada Jaber writes that the Palestinian left needs to realize that the Hamas-Fatah rapprochement reflects a crisis and not the alleged unity needed to face Palestinians’ challenges. Given that, the upcoming legislative elections present an opportunity but the left needs to decide its goal — to become an effective force in the Palestinian political system, or merely to survive.
The Palestinian people need elections that will bring them closer to self-determination. Haidar Eid writes that the current election plan only promotes further fragmentation, and the interests of Israel.
As Palestinians gear up to cast ballots in presidential and legislative elections for the first time in 15 years, many in Gaza hope that a change in government will ease economic woes.
On January 15th Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held this spring and summer, 15 years after he was first elected for what was supposed to be a four-year term. Yumna Patel talks to Palestinians about their thoughts on the vote and many share the same concern — will they be a true chance to make their voices heard, or is it just another facade of democracy on part of the PA?
After more than a decade of political strife, rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have agreed to hold elections for the first time in Palestine in nearly 15 years.
Ramzy Baroud writes the call by Mahmoud Abbas for elections is a ploy. “There will be no true, democratic elections under Abbas’ leadership. The real question is why did he make the call in the first place?”
Mahmoud Abbas called for the first general elections in 13 years. However, many analysts and Palestinian citizens remain skeptical fair elections will be held any time soon.
Wafa reports that after multiple cancellations, Palestinian Authority elections are back on in the West Bank but Hamas will be boycotting and Gaza will not participate in the vote.
Upcoming municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza were cancelled yesterday by a Palestinian high court in Ramallah, after ruling in favor of a lawyers guild’s petition to strike down the race because East Jerusalem Palestinians were not eligible to cast ballots, or compete for seats in the government. Although the decision was said to have been made over a procedural technicality, some speculated political motives from members of the West Bank-based Fatah were at play.