Whatever its public stance, on the ground Israel is intent on obstructing Palestinian elections, writes Khaled Amayreh While Israeli officials make almost daily statements to the effect that they will facilitate the organisation of Palestinian elections scheduled for 9 January, on the ground the Israeli army has been doing the exact opposite. Last week Israeli soldiers at one of the hundreds of roadblocks in the West Bank harassed, beat, handcuffed and briefly detained Bassam Salhi, a presidential candidate representing the Palestine People's Party. Salhi was travelling with a few supporters from Ramallah to East Jerusalem when he was stopped at the Qalandiya checkpoint. Israeli soldiers trained automatic rifles at him before arresting him for "trying to enter Israel without permit". "I knew all along that the Israeli occupation authorities were anti-democracy, anti-election, anti-peace, anti-civility...Occupation is the antithesis of democracy, they just can't coexist...I don't know how can we practise democracy when we can't travel freely in our own country." Earlier, another candidate, Mustafa Barghouti, had a similar encounter with Israeli soldiers who prevented him travelling in the West Bank and to the Gaza Strip. "As you see they are preventing us from moving around. How can we conduct an effective and orderly election campaign if we are unable to meet supporters and talk to the electorate," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. Barghouti said he had already contacted EU officials to inform them of the disruption caused by Israel's occupation forces. It is unlikely that the EU, which has dispatched dozens of monitors and observers to follow up the elections, will be able to do much to force Israel to alter its practices and act on promises to facilitate the electoral process. Occupation simply does not allow for the freedom of movement essential for campaigning. Meanwhile, a high-ranking Palestinian Authority official has accused Israel of "jeopardising and seriously undermining" local and municipal elections due to take place in the West Bank later this month. Jamal Shubaki, minister of local governance, accused Israel of arresting candidates and threatening others with prolonged prison terms should they decide to contest the elections. "If this flagrant interference with the elections continues then we might very well decide to cancel or postpone the elections," said Shubaki. "How can a true electoral process take place in an atmosphere of intimidation by the Israeli occupation forces?" The PA, he revealed, had already notified the Quratet, which includes representatives from the US, UN, EU and Russia, of the arrest by the Israeli occupation army of several nominees in the southern West Bank town of Dahirriya, as well as the harassment and brief detention of two presidential candidates in Ramallah last week. The most brazen interference with the elections so far took place in Dahirriya shortly before dawn on Friday, 10 December, when troops, backed by armoured personnel carriers, raided the homes of four Islamic-oriented nominees for the town's local council. The detainees included Musbah Ahmed Zeidiya, head of the Islamic Bloc for Change, and three members of the list -- Muhyi Battat, Ali Till and Ghazi Hassan Qaisiyeh. A fifth person, the son of one of the Islamic Bloc's candidates, was also arrested, reportedly for running his father's election campaign. Four of the detainees are current or retired school teachers with no security history. "America and the world are lecturing us day and night on democracy but when we seek to practise it the Israeli army comes to arrest the candidates and raid their homes at dawn," said Hani Abu Sharkh, spokesman for the Islamic bloc. "I think America is hypocritical about democracy in the Muslim world. If this was not the case then it would order Israel to withdraw its troops from our towns and villages to enable us to have authentic elections. Obviously military occupation and democracy can't go hand in hand." An Israeli army spokesman insisted that the four nominees were terrorists and described them as "fugitives and wanted persons". When it was pointed out that the four were teachers and civil servants who could easily have been arrested at any time prior to the election campaign, the spokesman refused to elaborate. "This is what I have," he said, "I don't have any further information."
