Hamas to boycott elections
Palestinian militant group's announcement could harm legitimacy of vote for president.
A leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas announced Wednesday that its members will
boycott presidential elections scheduled for January 9, reports the
Associated Press.
"We are not calling on the Palestinian people to boycott the election, but Hamas members will follow the decision to boycott the election," Hamas leader Ismail Hanieh said.
This is "the first sign of open tensions between the interim Palestinian leadership and the Islamic opposition group since the death of Yasser Arafat" and "could undercut the legitimacy of the ... election," reports
AP.
Mr. Hanieh said his group would boycott the election because it did not include legislative and municipal elections. He also said Hamas was not fielding a candidate because it considered the election "
merely a tool to prop up the Palestinian Authority, created under interim peace deals Arafat forged with Israel a decade ago that Islamists rejected," reports
Reuters.
The interim Palestinian leader and frontrunner in the presidential race, Mahmoud Abbas, played down Hamas' decision. "If they want to boycott these elections, it is up to them," he said.
In Beirut, a Hamas official said Abbas planned to meet members of Hamas when he travels to Damascus next week,
Reuters says.
If Abbas does go to Damascus, it would be a rare public contact between Syria and Palestinian leaders close to Arafat, whose pursuit of a negotiated peace with Israel under the 1993 Oslo Accords infuriated Syria.
It would also come during a battle for influence between Abbas, who is favored by Israel and the United States as a negotiating partner, and the harder line of Islamists like Hamas.
Mr. Abbas, a moderate nominated by the mainstream Fatah movement, wants to renew peace talks with Israel. Hamas and other militants reject dialogue with Israel.
Hamas had earlier said that it would not participate in the elections, but Wednesday's statement marks the
first official announcement, notes
Al Jazeera.
Hamas boycotted the first general election in 1996 because it was a result of interim peace talks with Israel.
A local Hamas leader, Sheik Hassan Yousef, said Monday that the group
won't attack Israel during the election period and would consider a formal truce with Israel.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the softening of Hamas's rhetoric.
... observers say the apparently moderate language reflects a new desire within the organization to become more involved in politics - particularly in the wake of the death on November 11 of the chairman of the authority, Yasser Arafat - and shake off its international reputation as an extremist terrorist movement.
The
Herald also reports that "personal relations between Abbas and the Hamas leadership in the occupied territories are
said to be good - better, often, than his relations with factions of his own Fatah movement."
The Israeli daily
Ha'aretz reports that Fatah beat Hamas in
student elections at the West Bank's largest university Monday. Fatah won 38 seats on the 81-seat council at Al-Najah University in Nablus, defeating Hamas for the first time since 1996, reports the newspaper.
Palestinian university votes are often considered a bellwether of wider trends among the people. Analysts said the Fatah victory was a result of sympathy for the party following the death of Yasser Arafat, and satisfaction with the smooth transition of power to Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile, another popular Fatah leader has announced his candidacy ahead of Wednesday's midnight deadline to register. Associates of Marwan Barghouti said Wednesday the jailed leader has decided to run for president,
reversing his earlier decision.
The Israeli daily
Maariv reports that Barghouti "
represents the younger generation in Fatah," and notes that he "has wavered repeatedly on whether to run."
AP reports that "Barghouti's candidacy would undermine the prospects of interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas." Barghouti is serving five consecutive life terms in an Israeli prison for his role in deadly shooting attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk. Barghouti has denied involvement in violence.
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