Jerusalem – Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday agreed to allow a limited number of Palestinians to cast ballots in east Jerusalem, moving to defuse a situation that had threatened to delay Palestinian parliamentary elections set for Jan. 25.
But Israeli authorities insisted that the names of candidates from the Palestinian militant group Hamas would not be allowed on the ballot in east Jerusalem, and detained three Hamas candidates on suspicion of campaigning illegally in Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
The unanimous Cabinet decision was considered a victory for interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who stepped into the leadership role after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4.
Israel came under U.S. pressure to ease its opposition to voting in the area, the Arab sector of the city that was annexed by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War. Israel fears that allowing the vote to take place could bolster the Palestinians’ claim to the city as capital of their future state.
Even while urging that the vote in east Jerusalem be allowed to take place, Olmert said Israeli authorities would take “strict care to remove all signs and symbols regarding Hamas.”
The Israeli decision left the Palestinian Authority in the odd position of having to defend the right of Hamas, the rival of the dominant Fatah faction, to participate in the elections. The latest public opinion polls have shown Hamas pulling even with the Fatah movement.
Sharon, who has not regained consciousness and remains in grave condition, underwent a tracheotomy Sunday night, a procedure doctors said was meant to wean him off the respirator to which he has been attached since his stroke.
The Israeli leader’s prognosis is murky but grim.
The extent of the brain damage the 77-year-old prime minister suffered in his hemorrhagic stroke is not yet known, but he is not expected to be able to resume his duties.
