International observers have given Palestinian democracy a clean bill of health, but electoral chaos in East Jerusalem brings to question how free the vote really was, reports Serene Assir from Ramallah and Jerusalem On the invitation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, more than 22,000 local and 1,000 international observers, both diplomatic and non-governmental, gathered in the occupied territories with the single, unified aim of seeking to ensure that the Palestinian presidential election was effective, democratic and free. Their task was two-fold: to monitor the logistics and procedures as administered by the CEC and, on the other hand, given that the territories are under illegal occupation, to observe any acts of interference or obstruction by the Israeli government or security forces. The observer teams included high-profile state officials and politicians -- including a European Union mission, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry delegation and the United States' Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry -- and volunteers who had made their own way here out of commitment to the Palestinian cause. Given the sheer number of observer missions and delegates, the CEC asked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to coordinate and inform the entire body of representatives. The UNDP was also put in charge of coordinating to ensure that at least one international observer was stationed at each polling station, alongside at least one Palestinian observer. Just three days before election day, cooperation between the observers and the electoral committee was proven when the UNDP Observers Mission Liaison Commission and the CEC held a joint conference in Ramallah stating the main aims and obstacles. Very high on the EU and CEC representatives' agendas were the issues of Jerusalem, where voters were told to cast their ballots in Israeli post offices and where the election did indeed turn out to be extremely problematic, the crucial question of how democratic this election could really turn out to be when the Palestinian people and institutional structure remain occupied, and the high potential of Israeli obstruction of the potential voters' mobility. "We really need your help, observers and media, in order to make sure that the limitations imposed by the fact that we are under occupation do not turn into infringements," said CEC Chairman Hanna Nasser. "It is our hope that democracy will be practised wholly in Palestine." Indeed, some of those involved in the monitoring campaign took the occupation as a challenge, not as an absolute obstacle. "We want things to be right," Nader, a Palestinian monitor recruited from the Defence of Freedom human rights association, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "We're trying our best. We also want to prove, both to ourselves and to the world, just how capable we Palestinians are of conducting a fair election, despite our situation." The various conferences and meetings held in advance by participant organisations sought to prepare the delegates for the complexities and peculiarities by which the Palestinian election was characterised, to the extent that many monitors were informed and active enough on the day as to move continually from voting office to voting office, checking degrees of fairness and compliance with CEC rules and Israeli guarantees of fair play, as well as the effectiveness of procedures. But despite their overall commitment, many observers were certain that however fairly the procedures were carried out by the CEC, the main problems would be those of mobility and, ultimately, the validity of the elected leader as decided by Israel. "The situation is atrocious. Even if the Palestinians hold an election, Israel ultimately calls the shots here, whoever wins," Andrea from the Italian Youth Socialist Movement told the Weekly. "Also don't forget that the Palestinians suffer from the occupation on all levels, and many are afraid to vote. Superficially the election is free and monitored, but it remains to be seen how effectively a president elected under such conditions can represent such a disadvantaged people." "We've set a trap for ourselves and fallen straight into it," said Tahrir, a local observer and human rights worker. "Here in Palestine we suffer from schizophrenia -- we are democratic, and we are also militarily occupied." Aymen, a Jerusalemite painter, was also cynical: "The Israelis have allowed all this to happen precisely so that all of you, media and monitors, come and see how much freedom they give the Palestinians. Once you all pack your bags and go away, that's when the reality of the situation will surface." "I was the first person to be here, I was here at 7am and voted before anyone else did!" Alaa, a member of Jerusalem's Fatah Youth Movement, told Al-Ahram Weekly outside the Israeli post office in Salaheddin Street. "It's great that we get to vote, everyone should take part in choosing our new leader. Otherwise, how are we to decide our future?" Later in the day, a young boy standing among the crowds with his friends laughed as he said, "they've fallen for it, they think they're participating in an election." Of all the Palestinian towns and cities where elections were held on Sunday, just as the Central Elections Committee (CEC) and the international observers had predicted, East Jerusalem turned out to be the most problematic, confused and negatively affected by the realities of Israel's illegal occupation. Voter turnout here was extremely low in comparison to other areas -- 26 per cent as compared to the total estimate of 66 per cent throughout the occupied territories. By Monday the CEC was intensively working through numerous complaints that Jerusalemites had made. Meanwhile, the talk of the town was that elections would be rescheduled to take place here. At this point, this rumour suggests wishful thinking on the part of a minority. Indeed, there had been no lack of obstructions imposed on voters which all call to question how Palestinian the election really could be. On Israeli demand, voting took place in Israeli-owned and run post offices. Israeli-employed post office workers were charged with the task of verifying the identities of potential voters. Ballots were cast in Israeli- provided boxes which were then taken to be counted by Israeli-employed postmen. Armed Israeli police -- both dressed in military gear and plainclothes -- guarded the stations, and, on the whole, the area was tightly guarded by Israeli security forces. "Obviously the Israelis are exercising their claim to sovereignty over the city," election observer Martin Holter of the Norwegian Association of NGOs for Palestine told the Weekly. Further, as CEC Chairman Hanna Nasser explained to the media on Sunday night, the use of two overlapping registers -- the civil register compiled by Israel in 1996 and recognised by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and the voters' register compiled by the CEC -- resulted in a series of extreme drawbacks very much felt by voters. On one hand, many could not find their names on the lists used at the voting centres. However, on the civil register, their Arab names had been transliterated from Hebrew (the language used by the Israeli Ministry of Interior to register Palestinians and to issue them with ID cards) into Arabic. In addition, while thousands of Palestinians live in East Jerusalem -- population estimates now range between 200,000 and 300,000 -- only 5,365 were registered to vote at the city's polling stations. And while five offices were "guaranteed" to be open and functioning throughout the day, the one at Jaffa Gate was closed, and three others opened up at 11am instead of 7am. "Of course it's complicated," Hdaib said. "But for me, it is my responsibility as a Palestinian to take part in this election, and whoever wins I will be satisfied. I just hope that this vote will work as a weapon that will help us come closer to our freedom from occupation." Given the problems faced by Jerusalemites, the CEC responded by allowing blue ID-card holders to vote in any West Bank office they could reach, and, at 4pm, it re- opened the voters' registry and enabled on-the-spot registration and voting. Voting hours were extended from 7pm to 9m. It took former US president Jimmy Carter, who put last-minute pressure on the Israeli government, to allow these changes to take place. "Zaayim, Zaayim! Let's go vote in Zaayim, all those who can't vote here, bus to Zaayim!" minibus drivers stationed outside the city's main polling centre enthusiastically called out. "It's scandalous," voter Abu Khalil told the Weekly as we drove out -- for free -- to the nearest polling station in Zaayim, technically located in the West Bank. "They talk to us of democracy and civil rights, we're told we can vote in any of East Jerusalem's five voting offices, but most of the people I know have been sent away to find out in which office they're actually registered. But we want to make our vote count, so we're making a lot of effort." In charge of the Zaayim polling centre -- set up in the premises of a school -- Bassim Erakat said, "here things are going really well." Asked whether he had voted, a young minibus driver whose vehicle sported a large poster showing Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Yasser Arafat standing side by side said: "Me? No, I don't support any of the candidates. I'm just working." None of the rival candidate's parties had prepared for the transport of voters to and from polling offices. But in spite of such emergency measures -- independent or not -- many felt they had been left out in the cold. "A friend of mine was told to vote here in Jerusalem, and when he went to cast his ballot, he was advised to go to Bethlehem," Mahmoud, aged 18, told the Weekly. "And when he got to the checkpoint outside Bethlehem, he was told to turn back and go vote in Jerusalem, where he's from. He came back, and was so tired of the whole thing that he gave up and went home." Asked whether he would vote or not, Aymen, who works at a heating and cooling machine factory but paints in his spare time, said, "You know why they did this? They set this whole thing up just so you and your media colleagues come here and take lots of photos and write lots of articles, showing the world how lenient the Israeli occupying authority, how free the Palestinians are to choose, and how pluralistic the Palestinian Authority is. But all major decisions have already been made. All of this is just an image, it's not real. For Israel and the United States, it's an experiment in Middle East policy. We don't have the power to choose our fate, nor the power to challenge the occupation." Such cynicism was also manifested by Mohamed, a shop owner, who told the Weekly : "Let's face it. Though I don't get to choose on that matter, my real president is Sharon. After all, he decides where I get to go, how much I pay the Israeli state in taxes, and how free I am. No Palestinian election, and indeed no Palestinian leader can represent me as things stand." Asked how democratic an election held under occupation could really be, United States Democrat candidate John Kerry told the Weekly, "Well, we'll just have to wait and find out." Presumably he meant that the results would dictate the validity of the elections. Already, Abu Mazen has been congratulated and invited to the US by President George W Bush. The US leader has also promised to fund the new government. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to meet Abu Mazen, who has for his part promised to clamp down on the armed Intifada, but has refused to launch full scale peace negotiations just yet. "Everyone knew that would be the result, so that's why I didn't bother to vote. What difference would I have made anyway?" said taxi driver Muhanad on Monday night. "Things won't get any better for us anyway, this system is not designed to work in our favour." Sunday 2 January Following a 15-hour journey from Cairo to Jerusalem, including a four-hour session of questions and intermittent waits at the Taba-Eilat border, I arrive in a city drenched in rain. A man offers me his umbrella, in English, as we walk into the old city. I walk with him, until a young man calls out from behind us, from the staircase leading into Damascus Gate. In Arabic, he tells the old man, "But look at her, she's an Arab!" We look at each other and start to laugh. They are the first Palestinians I meet. Monday 3 January Ramallah is as cold as Jerusalem, but its soul is less afflicted. Election campaign posters cover the city centre walls. The lions watching over the city's main square have had their faces painted since the Intifada began. Tuesday 4 January By the end of the night, reports that the Israeli occupation forces have entered Ramallah are denied by the media, after Ha'aretz and Al-Jazeera both stated that there were rumours of this. Israeli army trucks did indeed enter the city, and soldiers fired at vehicles unwilling to stop to be checked. Interim President Rohi Fattouh is among those searched. At least six people are arrested under suspicion of involvement in an alleged kidnapping of two Israeli army soldiers. Neither the alleged kidnapping nor the arrests are followed up. Wednesday 5 January The separation wall at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem is smooth, grey and monstrous in its uniformity as well as in its size. It is covered in posters supporting Abu Mazen's election campaign, though. Thursday 6 January Abu Mazen arrives at Bethlehem to join Palestine's Christians' celebration of the Epiphany, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Yasser Arafat, who partook in this feast every year until he was imprisoned in the muqataa throughout the four last years of his life. Non- Palestinian Christians are also present at the Mahd (Nativity) Church, built on the spot where Jesus Christ is said to have been born. Friday 7 January Prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem are preceded by a khitab delivered in solidarity with the tsunami- afflicted population of South East Asia and another calling for the continuation of the struggle against the occupation forces and for the liberation of Palestine. Saturday 8 January "God created music," says Diaa, a taxi driver from Jerusalem. "Everything else is our fault. Politics is a dirty business. I won't vote for someone who will do nothing to give me my rights to move freely and live freely. I've suffered enough, and I'm tired of words." Sunday 9 January Amal, a Jerusalemite social worker, holds up a hand-written poster outside the Israeli post office-cum-polling station at Salaheddin Street which reads: "Israeli banana republic". Armed Israeli police approach her and warn her that a group of Palestinians are planning to beat her if she retains her stance. He points at a group of young men -- they are friends of hers. She thanks him for the warning and stays put. Soon afterwards, he comes back and asks her whether she is afraid. She tells him she is not. He takes the poster away from her. One of the children she works with runs off, buys some more paper, and they make another poster. Monday 10 January Palestinians may now have an elected leader, but they have no state. A friend's father died in Gaza last night. As a green ID-card holder, she applied for a permit to return home from Ramallah, where she has lived and worked since the Intifada began, and she was refused, for "security reasons".
