Israel to avoid arresting Hamas candidates during PLC elections

Israel will avoid arresting Hamas candidates during the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, unless they are suspected of terror involvement, a senior government official in Jerusalem said Tuesday.

He said that Israel will also enable the elections to take place in East Jerusalem, in accordance with the Oslo Accords, but will not "make an effort" to assist the election process as it has done before.

The PLC elections are scheduled to take place January 25, 2006. "For us it would be just a regular weekday, and we will not take into consideration the fact that this is an election day," the official added. "There won't be a regime of free movement in the entire area (in the West Bank), as was the case in the previous elections."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demands that the Hamas disarm before the elections and that it strike out the clauses in the Hamas treaty calling for the extermination of Israel. On Tuesday Sharon told EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that "after the elections it would be harder to disarm Hamas."

more....http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/646235.html

'Israelis elect new Palestinian leader
Avraham Avinunu, BNN Elections Expert, 23 November 2004

Millions of Israeli voters flocked to the polls today to vote for a new Palestinian leader. Israel has taken the unusual step of giving its voters a say in who will lead the Palestinians, after years of Israeli ministers trying to make the decision themselves.

Israel's Interior Minister, Tommy Lapid explained, "After the death of the terrorist leader Yasir Arafat, there is unique opportunity for Israel to pick a new, moderate Palestinian leadership." He added, "since Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, our people are the only ones qualified to make this choice."

The candidates in the election, all hand-picked by Israel, are actually Israeli actors playing Palestinians, who trained with Israel's notorious "Mista'aravim" death squads who disguise themselves as Palestinians when carrying out assassinations. The candidates are Ahmad Abu Karsh of the PFLP (Palestinians for Likud Party), Mohammad Abu ShibShib of Fatah (Falafil, Tabouleh and Hummus Party) and Mahmoud Abu Dishdasheh representing the DFLP (Definitely for the Labor Party).

Ronit Sharoni, a 23-year-old social work student at Tel Aviv University, cast her vote on her way to class. She declined to say who she voted for but explained, "it is very important who leads the Palestinians, since we have one day to negotiate with them, and we should know in advance it will not be someone who will reject our generous offers. Otherwise the peace process will fail."

http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/10/3364

*Caution; contains satire*

It's been a long while since I last saw that, but it's just as good as it was the first time round. Thanks for brightening up my evening, Englander!

Violet...

this is a positive move; the Palestinians should be free to choose who they wish to represent them.

The flip side of it is, however, that they can't demand Israel accept whoever they choose; just like they have the right to bring a movement formally comitted to Israel's destruction into the government, Israel has the right not to negotiate with a government containing that movement.