As part of Fatah comeback plans, Abbas government to hold municipal elections July 17

West Bank to hold municipal elections July 17

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government decided Monday to hold municipal elections in the West Bank in July, the first voting since Abbas’ Fatah movement was trounced by the militant Islamic Hamas in national polls four years ago.

Abbas’ rivals in Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, signaled they will not participate in the July 17 election, virtually guaranteeing that Fatah will reclaim key cities where Hamas won in the last round of local elections five years ago. But a Hamas boycott would also likely exclude Gaza from the voting and diminish the potential of the election to compare the present strengths of the bitter rivals.

Presidential and legislative elections were to have taken place in January, but are on hold because of a deepening Palestinian split. Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, expelling Fatah forces and leaving Abbas with only the West Bank. Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed.

Municipal elections could help shore up the fading popularity of Abbas, who was elected in 2005 and has exceeded his term.

Fatah took a drubbing from Hamas in parliamentary elections in 2006, largely because voters wanted to punish Fatah for years of corruption, arrogance and mismanagement.

The Abbas government decided Monday that elections will be held in dozens of West Bank communities with more than 5,000 residents. The voting will take place in stages, with the first towns voting July 17, said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Mohammed Ishtayeh.

“It will be open to any person who wants to participate, including (those from) Hamas,” Ishtayeh said.

However, Hamas signaled it would not field candidates because of a crackdown on the movement in the West Bank. Since the Gaza takeover, Abbas’ security forces have arrested hundreds of Hamas activists, closed Hamas charities and sent home Hamas mayors.

“Hamas cannot participate in elections in the West Bank under the shadow of incursions, arrests and closing charities,” said Ziad Zaza, the local affairs minister in Gaza’s Hamas government.

If parliamentary elections were held today, Fatah would win 43 percent of the vote, compared with 27 percent for Hamas, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. The December poll had an error margin of 3 percentage points.

However, voting patterns in local elections differ from those in general elections. Clan interests often supersede faction loyalty.

In another development Monday, Israel TV reported the government will save a Jewish building in an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem with a retroactive building permit allowing its residents to stay.

Last week Jerusalem’s mayor said he would order the evacuation of the building in line with an order from Israel’s attorney general.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he was not involved in the matter.

Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital and insist that all Jewish sections there must be removed. Israel has annexed all of the city.

Associated Press Writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.