No vote in Gaza as split widens

[oberliner]

When West Bank Palestinians vote in municipal elections in October, they won't be joined by their peers in Gaza, in yet another sign that the much heralded attempt to put Palestine under unified rule has run aground. The Palestinian Authority (PA) said that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would not be included in voting, which will be restricted to the West Bank under the rule of the rival Fatah movement. The announcement set off another round of mutual recriminations on who is at fault for keeping Palestine divided and obstructing democracy.

Salam Fayyad's government denounced Hamas for hampering the work of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) in Gaza, making elections there impossible. Municipal elections were originally scheduled for July 9. These were postponed to October 22 following the reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo in May, in order to allow simultaneous elections in both territories.

The Central Committee cannot prepare for elections in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing closure of the Committee's offices in Gaza by Hamas, which prevents the staff from working and has even confiscated the Committee's cars," CEC wrote the government.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=OTQxNTk4MTI3Ng==

[pelsar]

1. gosh what a surprise....didnt see that one coming

so theocratic regimes, dont believe in the methods of democracy, wow, that sure is a surprise.

So now is it clear?
having mere elections before a population is educated in the ways of democracy does not mean a society is a democratic. Far from it. Furthermore since there are not elections after the religious ones take power, there is no way of knowing what the "people want." It might be noticed that in democracies the people tend to change their mind when one group fails to deliver......theocratic regimes don't allow for that, hence they are the "voice of the people" for only a limited time-except that they extend that period by shutting down any democratic process that might have started.

so much for hamas being the "voice of the people." and promoters of democracy as well as other western democratic values....
the march 15 protest for freedom from hamas/PA for unity resembled the syrian and Iranian template for dealing with peaceful protestors.
-------

i understand that carter and others for reasons that i have trouble understanding, believe that hamas is the voice of the gazans.....
even the gazans dont seem to buy that. (but what do they know, they're only the "brown people")

http://www.gazamom.com/2011/03/palestine-calling/
gazamom is very careful not to cross any lines with hamas in her writings.

[Igel]

2. Shush. The People have decided that Hamas is the legitimate representataive of the people.

No tautology, since "the People" is very much not co-referential with "the people."

[shira]

9. Well, some folks here think Fatah is running a secular democracy in the W.Bank now...

...and that model is so good that it should be implemented once a 1-state solution is imposed with an Arab majority within the green lines.

[azurnoir]

3. Kind of old news wouldn't you say? Ma'an ran an article about this last Wednesday

IMO October is in a political sense a long ways off the UN vote looms between now and then, and in the event Palestinian statehood is declared then Hamas is faced with a very tough choice, cooperate with the vote or be declared a illegitimate government by the Palestinian people themselves

There was already a thread run here about this based on Ma'an's article where a couple of replies seemed to hope for a 3 state solution or Gaza being further isolated from the rest of Palestinian world but IMO those hopes are quite in vain

[oberliner]

4. Published Date: August 01, 2011

It includes some content not found in the Ma'an article.

[azurnoir]

5. yes I was quite aware of the publish date in your op

as to additional information I found part not included in your clip interesting



Ezbeidi said that reconciliation came under pressure of widespread popular demand and therefore neither Hamas nor Fatah wanted to be seen as the side responsible for unraveling it. Sameeh Hamoudah, a colleague of Ezbidi's at Bir Zeit, speculated that the PA's insistence not to postpone the municipal elections a second time could be a negotiating tactic in the reconciliation process.i]

was that what you had in mind?

[King_David]

6. There never was going to be another election under Hamas

EVER

[azurnoir]

7. perhaps or perhaps not its not October yet

if recent polls are any indicator though Hamas would lose if elections were to be held, so either way it is a lose-lose situation for Hamas

[oberliner]

8. Those same polls showed Hamas losing the last elections as well

In fact, none of the polls were even as close as the current ones.

We saw how that turned out.

[shira]

10. Hey Azurnoir, is Fatah running a secular democracy now with equal rights for all....

...that we should all back once 1-state is imposed on the people after full RoR?

Is the W.Bank model now what you have in mind WRT a secular democracy? After all, Fatah is secular and they're running a democratic election. Ergo, "secular democracy". All people there are treated like shit, but at least they're equal - right?