Amid scepticism from the Palestinian public, and under the shadow of military occupation, voter registration begins in the occupied territories, Khaled Amayreh reports from the West Bank Voter registration has begun throughout the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in preparation for possible general and local elections next year. As many as 1,000 registration booths were set up in schools and community centres, manned by some 3,000 trained operatives. However, no fixed date for the elections has been designated, ostensibly for fear that the Israeli occupation army, which maintains a conspicuous presence in most Palestinian population centres, will not allow the elections to take place. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is expected to announce a final date of the elections later this year, awaiting "guarantees" from the international community. The voter registration will last for eight weeks, extendible by another two weeks. So far, turnout has been meager despite an intensive publicity campaign by the Central Election Committee (CEC). Possible reasons for that include acute economic hardship, lack of confidence in the PA political system and -- more importantly -- scepticism about the credibility of holding elections and practising democracy under a brutal foreign military occupation. Palestinian officials readily recognised that there are "many blemishes, flaws, snags and even non-starters" facing the election process. Ali Jirbawi, head of the CEC, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Palestinians have no choice but to go ahead organising the elections, "because, after all, this is what our people want and what the world wants, except probably Israel and the United States". "Look, if we wait for Israel to allow us to hold the elections, we will have to wait forever. Israel is not interested in an election that will empower our people and reflect their collective will. Israel wants the sort of political reforms that would produce quislings and collaborators, not genuine representatives of the Palestinian people." According to Jirbawi, Israel, possibly in collusion with the United States, might eventually decide to prevent the elections from taking place by force. "Then the world will see for itself who is serious about democracy in the Middle East and who is not." A similar view was aired by Abdullah Abdullah, PA deputy foreign minister. In an interview with the Weekly earlier this week, he lashed out at the international community for not pressuring Israel to allow fair, transparent and orderly elections to take place in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. "We will do all we can to organise the elections sooner rather than later. But if Israeli tanks and Apache helicopter gunships prevent us from reaching the polling stations, then the world would have to shut up and stop its hypocritical calls for fostering democracy in the Middle East." Abdullah accused Israel of seeking to eviscerate any Palestinian election of its democratic content. "The Israelis have falsified history, and now they are trying to predetermine the outcome of our elections." Abdullah reserved some of his strongest criticisms for the Bush administration, which he says is at Israel's beck and call. "This administration is subservient to Sharon and his Likud Party. I know it, you know it, and the Americans know it. It is an administration that flies in the face of all American ideals from the First Amendment to the Wilsonian principles of liberty and democracy." "I tell America which lectures us day and night about democracy, 'if you are serious about democracy in the Arab world, start with us here in Palestine and enable us to conduct a fair and orderly election.'" During the Oslo years (1995-2000), the PA, likely in collusion with Israel and the United States, resisted popular demands for local and municipal elections for fear that the anti-Oslo Islamic oppositionists might win at the expense of the Oslo camp at whose helm stood PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. However, the virtual destruction of the PA security apparatus by the Israeli army, coupled with a deepening political crisis hounding the largely autocratic Palestinian leadership, has made elections the only hope for a breakthrough from the current crisis. This is the view of Hani Al-Masri, a prominent political expert and regular columnist. "You see, there is no breakthrough in the peace process. The Israeli campaign of killing and home demolitions is continuing unabated, along with the land grab and settlement expansion," he said. "There is a near implosion within our society, the Legislative Council's term has long expired, the very legitimacy of the PA is being increasingly questioned and chaos and lawlessness are rampant. So elections are the solution." Al-Masri predicts that should the elections proceed unhindered, the outcome would be utterly undesirable for Israel and the United States, and perhaps for Arafat as well. "It is very likely that the majority of winners would be Islamists and true nationalists who would be faithful to Palestinian national aspirations for freedom and independence." The PA would be the first victim in such an event. "Such an outcome would greatly limit Arafat's ability to compromise with Israel as he would have to deal with a new breed of law- makers who would dare tell him, 'No Sir', not 'Yes, Sir, Yasser'." Hamas and other opposition groups have already voiced their willingness to participate in the elections, especially local and municipal elections. Indeed, Islamic activists have been using mosque pulpits to urge citizens to register for the elections, arguing that it was "a religious duty" to do so. Earlier this week, a Hamas leaflet rebuked the masses for their passivity and indifference. "You want change, then work for it. Change will not fall from the sky, you make it by going to the registration booths now." However, the passivity and indifference are not exactly without a reason. Many ordinary Palestinians are convinced of the futility of holding elections "in the shadow of the barrels of Israeli tanks", using the words, of Mohamed Naji, a Hebron taxi driver. "I think we are deceiving ourselves. By holding elections, we are telling the world that we have at least a semblance of sovereignty and independence when we actually don't have a state." "Maybe we can't speak of a prisoners' election... That would be a more accurate description." So far, Israel has refrained from taking a clear-cut stance on the elections, with Israeli officials refusing to say whether the Israeli army would allow elections to take place. However, Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accused the PA of using the elections as a "deceptive façade" to avoid "genuine political reforms". To this, retorts Abdullah: "Elections are at the heart of any political reforms. The Palestinian people, not Israel, will choose their representatives. Israel and its subservient friend [the US] must understand this."
