Israel still has not said whether it will allow east Jerusalem Palestinians to vote, as Marwan Barghouti announces he will run his own political list from an Israeli prison.
The upcoming Palestinian legislative elections could be canceled as Palestinian officials accuse Israel of not responding to their request to allow them to set up polling stations in east Jerusalem.
Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, and secretary-general of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, said in a statement on Tuesday that it would be impossible to hold general elections without the participation of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem is not an electoral slogan, but rather the essence of the conflict, and we will not neglect the rights of Jerusalemites in the democratic process,” Majdalani said, adding that “the occupation seeks to disrupt the democratic process in the State of Palestine.”
He called on the international community, the European Union, Russia and China to exert pressure on Israel to allow them to hold elections in Jerusalem.
Munir al-Jaghoub, the head of Fatah’s information department in the Office of Mobilization and Organization, told The Media Line that the aim of the protest is to “affirm our position that there are no elections without Jerusalem.”
Jaghoub confirmed to The Media Line that the Palestinian Authority has formally requested that Israel allow east Jerusalem Palestinians to participate in scheduled Palestinian national elections.
“The request was formally and directly made without an intermediary through the Ministry of Civil Affairs,” Jaghoub said.
He added that “until this moment, there has been no official response from Israel, neither positive nor negative.”
Jerusalem is not an electoral slogan, but rather the essence of the conflict, and we will not neglect the rights of Jerusalemites in the democratic process
EU Representative to the West Bank and Gaza Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, in a news conference in Ramallah on Tuesday after his meeting with the Palestinian Central Elections Commission Chairman Hanna Nasser, said that in light of the restriction on travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, the EU sent a formal request on February 8 to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting that EU election observers be permitted to travel via Israel to the Palestinian territories.
“Despite continued contact with the Israeli authorities in the past seven weeks, a reply granting access has yet to be received,” Burgsdorff said, adding that a lack of a reply from Israel puts the possibility of EU monitoring of the Palestinian elections in doubt. “This delay has reduced the EU option to observe the May 22 legislative elections,” he said.
Burgsdorff said that other options are being discussed internally.
A member of the Fatah Central Committee, Azzam al-Ahmad, told Palestine TV: “Our understanding is with Hamas and all the factions and we all agree that there are no elections without Jerusalem.”
The Media Line contacted Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office for comment on whether Palestinians will be allowed to vote in elections in east Jerusalem but did not receive a response as of press time.
