Palestinian candidates decry lack of freedom of movement

One of the main requirements for an election campaign is that the candidates be able to present their message to the voters, at rallies and through the media. But some of the candidates in the current Palestinian presidential election campaign are complaining that they are being denied that right because the IDF is blocking them at checkpoints and the Palestinian media is entirely in favor of PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Marwan Barghouti withdrew from the race this week, as did two other candidates, thus eliminating the chance that the January 9 vote will be close.

"The Palestinian and Arab media are favoring the current Palestinian leadership and serving as its mouthpiece," claims Al-Najah University lecturer Abdul Satar Qassam, who had decided to run for president but pulled out of the race yesterday. "They are creating an atmosphere as if Abu Mazen has already won and sending the message to the voters, `Don't bother to run and don't vote for other candidates, because if you do, you'll be wasting you vote.'"

Qassam, independent candidate Mustafa Barghouti, and Bassam al-Salhi, the candidate for the People's Party - the former Communist Party - are going from checkpoint to checkpoint in the hope of drawing Palestinian attention to their candidacies. Meanwhile, Abbas is on a tour of the Arabs states and is getting dozens of mentions a day in the Palestinian and Arab press, as both candidate and as the PLO chairman.

That leaves rallies and house-gatherings as the only way for the other candidates to get their message across, which means IDF checkpoints have a direct influence on the campaign. The District Coordination Offices in the territories say that they have made arrangements for travel permits for all six candidates, including Barghouti and Salhi, but those two have a position in principle against asking for permits or accepting them.

After Arafat's death, with Abbas' appointment as PLO chief, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and IDF officers announced that Israel would do everything possible to enable the elections to take place, promised to enable elections in Jerusalem and vowed there would be no Israeli intervention in the campaign.

After some direct contacts between Israel and the Palestinians as well as international mediation, it was agreed that the same format that was applied for the Palestinian elections in 1996 would be implemented this time. However, so far the army has not made clear its intentions about opening the West Bank to the candidates to move freely, and whether it plans to allow candidates from the West Bank to reach Gaza. About one third of the voters live in Gaza, and except for Abu Mazen who has visited the strip twice so far, none of the candidates have been there.

Last Wednesday, Mustafa Barghouti's car was stopped at a checkpoint near the settlement of Sa-Nur, in the northern West Bank, on his way back from an election rally in the Jenin area. Barghouti claimed the soldiers stopped his car and then attacked him and his entourage after he told them he was a candidate in the presidential race and was on his way to Ramallah.

"I argued with them and explained that the Israeli government had promised to allow candidates to move freely through the territories, but one of the soldiers pushed me to the ground and pointed his weapon at me," said Barghouti. "I don't hold an official PA position and don't have a VIP pass. But there is no reason for me to have to coordinate my passage with the occupying power, which promised to enable the elections. I have no intention of asking for travel permits except to Gaza, which I have already requested and for which I have yet to get a response."

Salhi, who is one of three candidates appealing to the leftist vote, said last week that he did not offer his candidacy out of expectation of winning, "but to remove the siege and the limits on freedom of movement for the Palestinian people."

He was detained by Border Police last week at the A Ram checkpoint in northern Jerusalem when he tried to enter the city. Salhi is not a resident of Jerusalem but was trying to get to the city to attend an election rally. He was brought to a judge in the Russian Compound and released on bail in the evening.

The IDF says that it is currently preparing staff workers "to enable conducting the elections in the Palestinian Authority in an orderly and democratic manner, and is ready to provide solutions to any security need, according to the decisions of the defense minister and the political echelon."