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Polls: Abbas places onus on Israel
| Somehow the onus always seems to make its way to them. Paleostinians have no onuses. |
 The success of Palestinian elections in January could hinge on whether Israel allows people to vote freely in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said. Parliamentary elections will be held on 25 January, but officials visiting Rome said it was not clear if Israel would allow Palestinians to vote in Jerusalem, which is under Israeli control. Abbas, at the end of a two-day visit to Italy, said on Saturday: "If we can't hold democratic elections in Jerusalem it will be difficult to do it in the other zones. At that point Israel will be responsible for the block of the democratic process in Palestine.
| "Yep.Yep. It'll all be their fault. You betcha." |
"The Oslo accords establish the right of Palestinians to take part in elections. The Palestinians in Jerusalem have to have the freedom to vote inside Jerusalem." An official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in previous cases, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Middle East war, were allowed to vote "by proxy" at Israeli post offices - a procedure agreed by both parties. Mark Regev, the spokesman, said: "Israel stands by the principles for the voting mechanism which were negotiated in the 1990s and hopes that the Palestinians will not try to unilaterally change them because this would not be a positive move."
Posted by: Fred 2005-12-04 |
