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PA President Mahmoud Abbas, leaves a polling a station after casting his ballot, during municipal elections in Ramallah, Thursday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 18, 2005 |
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Hamas supporters celebrated a landslide election victory in major towns in Judea and Samaria, the strongest sign yet of the Islamic terrorist group's growing political appeal ahead of Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.
Israel responded Friday with concern, saying a Palestinian government dominated by Hamas - which calls for Israel's destruction and has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks - would not be a partner for peace.
The results stunned officials from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, whose internal disarray developed into a split this week when a group of young-guard leaders broke away.
Thousands of Hamas supporters joined victory marches after Friday prayers. In Jenin, where Hamas won a majority of local council seats, marchers chanted, "To Jerusalem we march, martyrs by the millions!" and held up copies of the Quran.
"We didn't think for a moment that Hamas would win so many votes," said Issam Abu Baker, Fatah's chief in the Nablus region. "The earth shook under our feet, and this will have an effect on the parliament."
Hamas' welfare programs - coupled with its fierce resistance to Israel's occupation - have won it grass-roots support among Palestinians fed up with Fatah's corruption and inability to rein in lawlessness.
"We didn't expect we would get that many votes," said Adli Yaish, a local businessman who headed the Hamas list in Nablus and is expected to be the new mayor. "The Palestinian people want change."
Victory for Hamas in the parliamentary election could torpedo efforts to renew long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and could damage the Palestinian relationship with the United States. Hamas - responsible for dozens of suicide bombings - is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.
"If the Hamas was ever to become a dominant force in Palestinian politics, that would be the end of the peace process," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Saturday that Abbas should bar Hamas from the election and warned that a victory by the group would set the region back 50 years.
"A victory for Hamas would turn the territories into Hamastan and (create) a situation in which none of us want to be," Shalom told Israel Radio. "Today is the time is to make the tough decision, the strategic decision, to dismantle the terror infrastructure and go to elections with the intent of afterward going to peace with Israel."
Yasser Mansour, Hamas' spokesman for northern Judea and Samaria, said the group was willing to talk to Israel, at least about local issues.
"We are open to Europe and the Arab world, and we have no problem sitting with the Israelis to discuss municipal affairs," he said.
However, some Palestinians said they were wary of putting the Islamic group in charge of the Palestinian Authority.
Hassan Mubarakeh, a 33-year-old vendor in Nablus, said he voted for Hamas in the local election "because I believe it has clean hands and can do something in Nablus."
However, he ruled out voting for Hamas for parliament "because they mix religion with politics," he said.
Also Friday, Palestinian terrorists fired on an Israeli car near the Judean and Samarian city of Hebron, killing a resident of a local Jewish settlement. Terrorist groups linked to Fatah and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.
The army said it would increase security in the area, and Israel said the Palestinian Authority is not doing enough to stop extremists and linked the attack to the elections.
"It is totally unacceptable and intolerable that when they have elections in the Palestinian Authority, we will have to pay the price in casualties because of the competition between various groups," said Raanan Gissin, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Israeli military late Thursday imposed restrictions barring all Palestinians from entering Israel after troops discovered and detonated a car bomb near Bethlehem, a town in Judea and Samaria.
Meanwhile, Abbas' last-minute attempt to unify his ranks failed when a group of popular younger leaders formed a new party Thursday called "Future," led by the jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti.
Abbas threatened to resign if Fatah fails to unite, according to participants in a party meeting Thursday. In his earlier days as deputy for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abbas walked away in a huff several times, only to return.
Hamas' landslide victory is a direct result of Fatah's internal struggle, said Hani Masri, a Palestinian political commentator for the daily newspaper Al-Ayyam.
"Fatah today is a sinking ship," he said. "Everyone is trying to jump ship and this will open the way for Hamas to win the upcoming election."
In response, Abbas' Fatah party held urgent talks Saturday with the breakaway faction of young activists in hopes of reuniting the party and boosting its chances of defeating Hamas in January parliamentary elections.
The faction split from Fatah Wednesday and formed the Future movement after Abbas, ignoring the results of party primaries dominated by the young guard, announced a parliamentary slate filled with corruption tainted old-timers.
Abbas sent an envoy to Future's leader Marwan Barghouti to request that the sides merge
their party slates, and officials from both groups met Saturday to try to work out a deal, Fatah and Future officials said.
Future official Kadoura Fares said the atmosphere was positive and the two sides would meet again Sunday. However, their talks were complicated by a decision announced Saturday by the elections committee forbidding the merger of two party lists.
The two sides discussed maintaining the separate lists and merging the two parties after the vote, Fares said. But the continued split could still give Hamas an advantage, since some of the seats are chosen by districts and Fatah and Future candidates could split those votes.
The remaining seats are chosen from the national party lists.
Any agreement between the two sides would have to be approved by Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for involvement in attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk.
The AP contributed to this report.
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