College elections results spur doubts as to the possible fairness of general elections in the West Bank due this year, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah While a nearly euphoric Fatah celebrated the results of recent student elections in the West Bank, Hamas dismissed the results as being the outcome of falsification and manipulation by the Fatah-dominated security agencies. Hamas also accused Israeli occupation authorities of launching a witch-hunt campaign against suspected Islamist students, thus discouraging them from taking part in the elections lest they get arrested by the Israeli army, which still controls every nook and cranny in the West Bank. Israel doesn't deny the charge and says openly it won't allow Hamas to rebuild its power base in occupied territory. The Israeli army did arrest a number of students affiliated with the Islamic Student Bloc (ISB) for indulging in activities deemed illegal. Since at least 2007, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been partners in a security coordination arrangement that many observers believe targets Hamas supporters. PA security agencies have detained, interrogated and even tortured students affiliated with the ISB. Moreover, Israeli leaders warn from time to time that they won't allow Hamas any semblance of freedom to campaign for possible elections. Israel considers Hamas a "terrorist organisation" for refusing to recognise as legitimate the Israeli occupation of historic Palestine. Hamas argues that Israel, which occupied Palestine and banished its native Palestinians by force, killing thousands in the process, is in no position to lecture the world about terror since the Hebrew state itself is a war crime. Hamas argues that there is no point in holding general elections if its supporters are to be rounded up by the Israeli army. Fatah says it cannot prevent the Israeli occupation army from targeting and clamping down on Hamas supporters, including the group's candidates. Israel already holds as many as 25 Hamas lawmakers, including Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik. The detainees are accused with fuzzy charges stemming from taking part in the 2006 elections in the occupied territories, which Hamas won in an overwhelming victory. Student elections took place recently at most Palestinian universities and junior colleges in the West Bank, including Birzeit University, Al-Quds University, Hebron University, and the Polytechnic Institute in Hebron, and Bethlehem University. The results showed a clear advantage for Fatah supporters, with Hamas trailing behind. Other student groups representing the left and liberals failed miserably to win many seats. It was also noted that at some colleges up to 45 per cent of eligible voters didn't show up on elections day. All in all, between 15,000-20,000 out of some 35,000 college students took part in the elections. Fatah received nearly 53 per cent of the vote, with Hamas receiving some 38-40 per cent. The remaining seats went to leftist groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Fatah leaders in the West Bank were visibly jubilant following the announcement of the election results in Hebron and Bethlehem. Mahmoud Al-Alul, a former governor of Nablus and a Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member, described the college elections results as amounting to a " Fatah Spring". "This is the Fatah Spring we have been waiting for. We hope we will be able to maintain this momentum. The elections show that a decisive majority of the Palestinian people is standing behind Fatah." Another Fatah spokesman, Jamal Nazzal, went as far as saying that the election results showed that Hamas was no longer a popular movement. However, such euphoric reactions are not readily accepted by some academics and are rejected outright by Hamas leaders. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, dismissed the elections in the West Bank as an "orgy of falsification and fraud". He pointed out that the elections were marred by the brazen interference of security agencies deployed outside campuses in order to intimidate Islamist students. He listed a number of violations, including summoning students for interrogation and making threatening telephone calls to students' families warning them that their children would be arrested either by the PA or by Israeli authorities if they voted for Hamas. Abu Zuhri added that the "confiscation of students' will" to choose their representatives in a free and unfettered manner drew a question mark over the credibility of any elections held under the PA regime in the West Bank. "If they could so brazenly falsify elections in colleges, one can imagine what they would do if and when general elections are held," he said Samira Halaika, a PLC member representing Hebron who said she was closely following the elections, has no doubt as to the falsified results of the elections. "I have no doubt whatsoever that the results don't reflect the true will of the students. We just can't have true freedom when the police state atmosphere is everywhere," she said. Halaika, who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly, pointed out that hundreds of Islamist students in the West Bank are languishing in Israeli jails and detention camps. "There is clear tacit collusion between Israel and the PA against Hamas." She added that many students who otherwise would have voted for Hamas had to choose between voting for Hamas and risking jail, and not voting at all. "They just stayed home on the election day," she said. It is likely that the controversial student elections will embolden Hamas's stance vis-à-vis general elections slated to be held in the occupied territories this year as part of the reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas. Hamas argues that it would be embarking on a path to political suicide if it participated in elections heavily manipulated by the Israeli occupation authorities as well by PA security agencies. But organising elections is essential for overcoming the enduring political deadlock between Fatah and Hamas, which many regionaal parties, particularly Egypt, have been trying to resolve but to no avail. Fatah acknowledges that the situation is "not ideal" but argues that Palestinians ought to sacrifice for the sake of delivering their country from the clutches of a gluttonous Israeli occupation that continues to steal more Palestinian land as every day passes. However, Hamas retorts by arguing that it can't be a false witness to a sham process whereby the true collective will of the Palestinian people is suppressed in order to achieve dubious goals that have nothing to do with the liberation of Palestine but everything to do with Israeli designs to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
