AM
MAN: Long before Palestinian parliamentary elections, Palestinian radio and TV, and regular public opinion polls, elections — any elections — had a political meaning.
Elections for student councils, charitable organizations, sports clubs or trade unions had political significance.
Municipal elections for sure had a political message. Before the Oslo Accords, Palestinians proudly showed their loyalty and support to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) by electing names that were clearly identified with one or more of the PLO factions.
But nowadays, alas, elections have a little political value the way it used to.
Palestine’s leading university held student council elections on May 10, but the results did not seem to matter very much to anyone.
At Birzeit University, which was the stepping stone into political life for imprisoned leading legislator Marwan Barghouti (now leading Palestinians on a hunger strike in Israeli prisons), students close to Hamas received the highest number of votes — 3,778, while students supporting Fatah got 3,340 and those loyal to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) garnered 619 votes.
The two leftists organizations, the Democratic Front and the People’s Party, only managed 50 and 40 votes respectively.
In the presence of legal political parties, many would argue that student council elections are no longer a barometer of public support.
The same can be said about local council elections, held in the West Bank, only, on May 14.
Hamas officially boycotted these elections and so did the Popular Front, so most of the slates were either tribal lists or competing Fatah groups.
According to the Palestinian Independent Elections Commission, 420,682 Palestinians voted out of 787,386 registered voters in 2017 — 53.4 percent, similar to that of 2012.
The May 14 elections were scheduled for Oct. 8, last year, but were postponed by the Palestinian High Court when the Hamas-appointed courts in Gaza invalidated a number of lists that belonged to the competing Fatah movement.
After much deliberation, the court decided that elections would first be held in the West Bank on May 14.
Palestinian government and political officials, as well as the head of the elections commission, called on Hamas to allow the people of Gaza to participate in follow-up municipal elections in Gaza.
Wafa Adel Rahman, a Gazan living in Ramallah, was so upset about the elections not taking place in Gaza that she decided not to vote in her current place of residence, Ramallah.
Abdel Rahman, who runs the non-governmental organization (NGO) Falastinat, a media organization that supports the equitable discourse of youth and women, told Arab News that she decided not to participate in the current elections, because she did not feel it was necessary or urgent.
“At a time when we have not reached a political consensus and the divisions between the West Bank and Gaza have meant that Gaza has been removed from the occasion, plus the prisoners’ strike, I have decided personally not to participate.”
The sentiment is similar in the West Bank’s business capital Nablus.
Kaid Miari, who runs the Shahed think tank, told Arab News that the city witnessed the lowest voting percentage because of a lackluster election campaign and the prisoner strike.
“A coalition list was made up of a mix of pro-Fatah and pro-Hamas figures, and this left very little competition in the elections. Furthermore, the call by the prisoners’ support committee for a postponement of the elections also caused many to stay away.”
Anees Sweidan, an official in the PLO’s Ramallah office, told Arab News that many families of prisoners who are on hunger strike heeded the call to boycott the elections.
“Many stayed away for that reason; a small percentage, 2 percent, actually cast votes with the words hunger strike written on them.”
In some of the other major cities, it seems that the elections were not held on a political basis.
Fatah versus Fatah lists were featured in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.
In many villages, elections did not take place because there was consensus on the candidates, so there was no reason to hold elections. In addition, Gaza elections were not held in East Jerusalem either.
Palestinian officials have not been able to carry out any election procedure in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed shortly after the 1967 occupation.
Hazem H. Kawasmi, head of operations in the Municipal Development and Lending Fund in the West Bank, told Arab News that the Palestinian government did not try very hard to have East Jerusalemites participate in these elections.
“We all know that the Palestinian leadership has many cards it could use to force Israel to allow the 330,000 residents of East Jerusalem to participate in the elections,” said Kawasmi.
According to him, the Palestinian government can use the threat of going to the International Court of Justice and to UN agencies if Israel prevents Palestinians in East Jerusalem from participating.
While student councils and municipal elections cannot be used anymore as political barometers of political tendencies in Palestine, they are still seen as important features in the continuity and sustainability of daily life, irrespective of political progress or lack thereof.
For the Palestinian president, holding local elections, whether at universities or for municipal councils, is proof of the democratic nature of the Palestinian leadership, in contrast with the undemocratic tendencies of the Hamas movement in Gaza, which has not allowed any sort of elections.
What most Palestinians want, of course, is the renewal of parliamentary and presidential elections.
The last time President Mahmoud Abbas was elected was in 2005, and the last time Palestinians participated in legislative elections (in which East Jerusalemites and Gazans participated ) was in 2006.
Since then, these important general elections have not taken place and in the meantime different groups came to be in charge of the West Bank and Gaza.
Abbas, who won the presidential election, and his government are in firm control of the West Bank, while in Gaza, Hamas, whose followers won the parliamentary elections in 2006, refuse to recognize Abbas’ authority and created a renegade regime.
All attempts at reconciliation and agreements signed between Fatah and Hamas include the need to hold new elections as the best way to resolve differences.
Neither the student council elections at Birzeit University, in which Hamas sympathizers received the highest votes, nor the municipal elections in the West bank, in which pro-Fatah names won in most locations, will do much to break the larger logjam.
Until general elections take place in all of the occupied territories, including Gaza and East Jerusalem, with all political groups participating, the fractured nature of Palestinian politics will continue.
Palestinian elections fail to provide political answers
Palestinian elections fail to provide political answers
Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza
- At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army called on Monday for some areas of the southern Gaza Strip to be evacuated, warning that Palestinian militants were launching rockets from there.
It is the first such call in weeks relating to the south of the embattled Palestinian territory after the military turned its attention to the north in October.
“Terrorist organizations are once again firing rockets toward the State of Israel from your area,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post in Arabic on X, addressing residents of the Khan Yunis area.
“For your safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” he said, sharing a map of the area in question.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said in a statement that “one projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from Khan Yunis was intercepted” by the Israeli air force.
Hamas’s armed wing later claimed responsibility, saying it had fired rockets toward southern Israel.
Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since it launched a retaliatory military offensive following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
US welcomes Israel lifeline for Palestinian banking
- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension
WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday welcomed Israel’s one-year extension of a lifeline to Palestinian banks, after threats by the far-right finance minister to sever the connection amid the Gaza war.
The United States had pressed Israel to maintain the waiver which allows Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, fearing otherwise that the comparatively stable West Bank would descend into economic havoc.
The State and Treasury Departments in a joint statement said they welcomed the decision taken Thursday at a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet.
“Economic stability in the West Bank is essential for Israeli and Palestinian security, and correspondent banking is a key pillar of that economic stability,” the statement said.
“The United States appreciates the ongoing engagement with the Government of Israel and the Palestine Monetary Authority on this matter.”
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement and advocates for the full annexation of the territory occupied by Israel since 1967, earlier threatened to end the waiver in retaliation for three European countries’ recognition of a Palestinian state.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension.
Lebanon parliament speaker accuses Israel of blatant breaches of ceasefire agreement
- At least two people killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described “the Israeli occupying forces’ hostilities as blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement” as Lebanese authorities reported that at least two people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.
Berri called on the committee responsible for monitoring the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli army and Hezbollah to “urgently start carrying out its duties and oblige Israel to stop its violations and withdraw from the areas it invaded before anything else.”
Hezbollah “is committed to its pledges,” Berri said.
More than 54 Israeli breaches have been recorded, said Berri, who handled the ceasefire negotiations with the US envoy after being delegated to do so by Hezbollah.
Berri’s protest came as the ministry of health said one person was killed in an Israeli drone attack near the electricity plant in Marjayoun.
Lebanon’s state security said an Israeli drone strike killed a member of its forces — Cpl. Mahdi Khreis — while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 kilometers from the border.
State security called it a “flagrant violation” of the truce.
Security sources said Israeli attacks struck sites deep inside Lebanon. An Israeli drone fired three missiles at Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali village on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The Israeli army said it attacked military vehicles operating near Hezbollah military infrastructure in Bekaa, Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said an Israeli drone struck an army bulldozer carrying out construction work at the Al-Abbara military center in the Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali area of Hermel, injuring a soldier.
The Israeli army said that it was aware of the attack and that the incident was under investigation.
Israeli breaches continued in the area invaded by the Israeli army, including demolishing houses and private and public facilities and carrying out airstrikes against Bint Jbeil, Maroun Al-Ras and Aitaroun, injuring one person.
The Israeli army imposed a curfew on residents of the invaded area for specific hours.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee continued to warn residents of this area, which includes more than 50 villages, against going back to their houses at the moment. Many residents fled the area 14 months ago.
Berri denounced “the Israeli occupying forces’ hostilities, including demolishing homes in Lebanese border villages, carrying out air raids on Lebanese territories, as well as the latest strikes in Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali, Hermel, and Jdeidet Marjayoun, which resulted in casualties.”
Berri said the Israeli actions “are blatant breaches of the ceasefire agreement, effective since 4 a.m. on Nov. 27, to which Lebanon fully adheres.”
Berri questioned “the silence of the technical committee tasked with monitoring the agreement,” highlighting Israeli offences.
He emphasized that “Lebanon and the resistance remain committed to their pledges.”
Media reports stated that US envoy Amos Hochstein, who handled the ceasefire negotiations, sent a message to Israel regarding its “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Israel “adheres to the ceasefire agreement.”
But, he claimed, the 60-day period for the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the areas it invaded according to the agreement is “a gradual process to ensure Hezbollah's threat is gone.”
Hagari told Sky News Arabia: “Israel’s primary concern is to ensure its security and that it is not exposed to any threats.”
He said the Lebanese people “must ensure that the border areas with Israel are free of weapons that threaten Israel's security.”
According to a security source, the Israeli forces in a new incursion infiltrated the area near the Mays Al-Jabal government hospital.
“These forces regard this location as part of their operational zone, having established a boundary restricting Lebanese residents from returning to their towns following the ceasefire implementation.” the source said, adding that the situation was expected to persist until the forces withdraw within 60 days.
Adraee reiterated the Israeli prohibition on X: “Until further notice, movement south of the line of villages: Shebaa, Al-Habbariyeh, Marjayoun, Arnoun, Yohmor, Qantara, Shaqra, Baraashit, Yater, and Mansouri, and the surrounding areas of these villages is restricted.”
He said that “anyone who moves south of this line puts themselves at risk.”
The mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement is scheduled to commence at the beginning of this week.
The monitoring committee includes the US, France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL representatives.
The French Foreign Ministry said that Paris had informed Israel of the need for all parties to respect the ceasefire agreement.
Over the past weekend, it said French authorities observed 52 violations of the ceasefire agreement by Israel in the space of 24 hours.
Hezbollah, citing repeated Israeli ceasefire violations, carried out a strike on an Israeli military position late on Monday.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Hezbollah's firing toward army positions "will be met with a harsh response."
Hezbollah targeted the Kfar Shuba hills within the Shebaa Farms around 6 p.m. for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect.
A political observer described Hezbollah's action as "a calculated response, as the Shebaa Farms are not included in the 1701 Agreement and therefore are not included in the ceasefire."
Israeli media reported that two missiles were detected crossing from Lebanon into the Mount Dov area and falling in an open area, and two explosions were heard in the vicinity of the Ruwaysat Al-Alam site in the Kfar Shuba Heights.
A Hezbollah statement said that the military operation it carried out was "in response to the repeated violations by Israel of the declared cessation of hostilities agreement, which took various forms, including firing on civilians and airstrikes in different parts of Lebanon, which led to the martyrdom of citizens and the injury of others, in addition to the continued violation of Lebanese airspace by hostile Israeli aircraft, reaching the capital Beirut."
"Since the reviews of the relevant authorities to stop these violations did not succeed, Hezbollah carried out an initial warning defensive response targeting the Ruwaysat Al-Alam site belonging to the Israeli army in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shuba Hills."
The Israeli army later carried out raids on towns within the zone it declared south of the Litani Line.
In other developments, the Lebanese government has increased its meetings to deliberate on strategies to deal with the piles of debris resulting from the Israeli demolition of residential structures.
The move came as those displaced began to return to their homes in the less-affected regions of the southern suburbs of Beirut, the South, and Bekaa.
Lebanon’s Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said: “We are faced with the challenge of reconstruction, everything that has to do with removing the rubble and where to put it. There will be full coordination with the relevant ministries and bodies.”
After a meeting with the governors, he said that the “army and general security protect the Lebanese borders.”
The minister asked the governors to “constantly cooperate with the security forces and hold sub-security council meetings to discuss what may happen.”
The Beirut Southern Suburb Union of Municipalities said it continues to work on opening main and secondary roads by pushing rubble aside.
Data, including the names of residents, were circulated and showed that Hezbollah had started counting the people who were affected and surveying the damaged areas.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Gathering of Engineers has launched a drive to “recruit engineers and architects who wish to take part in the surveying and reconstruction efforts.”
Israel continues to bombard Gaza
- Palestinian medics say 20 killed in latest attack
- A new ceasefire push is underway, officials say
CAIRO: Israeli forces bombarded houses in several attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, including one airstrike that killed at least 15 people in a home sheltering displaced people in the town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics said on Monday.
The three barely operational hospitals in the area were unable to cope with the wounded from the attack, and several other people were still missing, with rescue workers unable to reach them, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.
Residents said clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, three towns on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army has been operating for weeks.
They said Israeli drones had also dropped bombs outside a school sheltering displaced families in Beit Lahiya, part of what residents have described as a campaign to scare people into leaving.
Palestinians say Israel’s army is trying to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone.
The Israeli army denies this and says it has returned to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in an area where it had previously cleared them out.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and displaced most of the population, Gaza officials say. Vast swaths of the enclave lie in ruins.
A former Israeli defense minister accused Israel on Sunday of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, drawing a sharp rebuke from government ranks.
Moshe Yaalon, a hawkish former general, told Israeli media that hard-liners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet were looking to chase Palestinians from northern Gaza and wanted to re-establish Jewish settlements there.
On Monday, the Israeli military rejected Yaalon’s serious claims.
“The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) operates under international law and evacuates civilians based on operational necessity for their protection,” it said.
Palestinian and UN officials said there were no safe areas in the Gaza Strip for the 2.3 million population, most of whom have been internally displaced.
In Gaza City, two Israeli air strikes killed five people, medics said.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week that halted fighting in a conflict that has unfolded in Lebanon in parallel with the Gaza war.
But the Gaza war itself has ground on with only a single ceasefire that lasted for a week more than a year ago.
Officials in Cairo have hosted talks between Hamas and the rival Fatah group led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the possible establishment of a committee to run post-war Gaza.
Egypt has proposed that a committee made up of non-partisan technocrat figures and supervised by Abbas’s authority should be ready to run Gaza straight after the war ends. Israel has said Hamas should have no role in governance.
An official close to the talks said progress had been made, but no final deal had been reached. Israel’s approval would determine whether the committee could fulfill its role.
Egyptian security officials have also held talks with Hamas on ways to reach a ceasefire with Israel.
A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said Hamas stood by its condition that any agreement must bring an end to the war and involve an Israeli troop withdrawal, but Hamas would show the flexibility needed to achieve that.
Israel has said the war will end only when Hamas no longer governs Gaza and poses no threat to Israelis.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday there was some indication of progress toward a deal to free Israeli hostages but that Israel’s conditions for ending the war had not changed.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal were now more likely.
UN chief ‘alarmed’ by Syria violence, calls for end to fighting
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by the escalation of violence in Syria and is calling for an immediate end to fighting, his spokesman said on Monday.
“All parties must do their utmost to protect civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing safe passage to civilians who are fleeing hostilities,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“Syrians have endured the conflict for nearly 14 years. They deserve a political horizon that will deliver a peaceful future, not more bloodshed,” he added.
UN peacekeeping operations in the country have been “largely suspended” across Aleppo, Idlib and Hama due to security concerns, Dujarric said.
“This has led to severe disruption in people’s ability to access lifesaving assistance,” he said, adding that the United Nations remains committed to delivering humanitarian aid.
Dujarric warned that “the presence of unburied bodies and lack of drinking water” in Syria threatens public health and said that damage to Aleppo’s university hospital had left hundreds of patients without care.
“Syria is also already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with 16.7 million human beings in need of assistance and over 7 million people internally displaced,” he said. “More than half a million people have also fled from Lebanon to Syria in recent weeks, and winter conditions will only make the needs in the coming weeks even more acute.”
Syrian President Bashar Assad has branded the militants’ offensive an attempt to redraw the regional map.
“The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries in it and redraw the map,” a statement from Assad’s office quoted him as saying.
At a news conference in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan blamed the recent flare-up of the conflict on the Syrian government’s refusal to enter a dialogue with the anti-government forces that Turkiye supports. “Recent developments show once again that Damascus must reconcile with its own people,” the Turkish minister said. “Turkiye is ready to make all the necessary contributions toward this.”
Turkiye has been seeking to normalize ties with Syria to address security threats from groups affiliated with Kurdish militants along its southern border and to help ensure the safe return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees.
Assad has insisted that Turkiye’s withdrawal of its forces from northern Syria be a condition for any normalization between the two countries.
