Posted on 12/13/2005 9:51:06 AM PST by ScaniaBoy
The Palestinian central election commission suspended its operations Tuesday after masked gunmen attacked electoral offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, endangering the first legislative elections in a decade.
The decision came just a day before the end of a candidate registration period, and was the latest sign that chaos and violence could undermine the Jan. 25 election.
In Tuesday's violence, masked gunmen stormed election offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, firing in the air, destroying computers and ordering workers out of the buildings - all with little or no interference by Palestinian police. There were no reports of injuries.
Amar Dweik, director of the election commission, said operations were halted until the Palestinian Authority can guarantee the safety of their workers.
"We are protesting the aggression against our offices today," he said. "We have suspended all work until we receive security for our offices and our staff."
Hanna Nasser, head of the election commission, met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the crisis.
"President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed security leaders to immediately take required measures against the aggressors and to protect the election commission offices all over the West Bank and Gaza," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Abbas.
Dweik said election officials would meet later Tuesday to decide whether to resume operations. It was not immediately clear whether the protest would affect the registration deadline, but election officials said if the fighting continues it will be difficult to hold the election on time.
The violence stems from disputes within Abbas' ruling Fatah party, which is divided between its old guard and younger members. The young generation fears Fatah old-timers will select the list of party candidates for the election, instead of relying on results from recent primaries.
The Fatah young guard swept to victory in most of the primaries, but Abbas holds the final say over who will run in the January vote. He is scheduled to announce his list of candidate on Wednesday.
The young guard is led by Marwan Barghouti, a leader of the Palestinian uprising imprisoned by Israel for murder. Barghouti, a top Fatah candidate, is demanding that allies also be on the ballot, and wants Abbas to remove corrupt political veterans from the list, associates say.
The run-up to the Palestinian election, the first legislative vote since 1996, has been repeatedly marred by violence. The Fatah infighting could hurt the party, which faces a tough challenge from the Islamic group Hamas.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniyeh said the group had planned to announce its list of candidates Tuesday, but decided not to because of the violence.
"We hope that what happened today is a passing summer cloud, and that it doesn't affect the election process," Haniyeh said.
With the registration deadline approaching, there has been a string of attacks on election workers in recent days. In Tuesday's violence, eight masked gunmen stormed the election office in Nablus, the largest West Bank city, fired in the air and ordered workers out of the building.
The gunmen destroyed three computers and took two others, then fired their weapons in the air as they sped away in two cars. Later, the masked militants posed for TV cameras while stepping on a computer.
Jamal Tirawi, an Al Aqsa leader in the nearby Balata refugee camp, accused the Palestinian leadership of forcing candidates off the ballot and said the group would not allow the elections to take place.
"They excluded a number of Fatah members who won in the primaries," he said. "We don't want elections of this type, in which they are forced from above."
Elsewhere, dozens of Al Aqsa gunmen stormed three election offices in the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza City, some 80 masked gunmen took over the commission's regional office. The gunmen gathered on the building's rooftop and in the garden. The gunmen locked the entrance of the building and marked it with a red "X," with a statement saying Al Aqsa had closed the office "until the crisis is resolved."
Palestinian security forces watched the entire incident from a distance but did not try to stop the gunmen.
In the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, gunmen exchanged fire with police, witnesses said, although there were no reports of injuries.
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