Israel must act to ease Palestinian vote-monitor
Reuters
Date: 12-13-04
By Cynthia Johnston
JERUSALEM, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Israel must do more to make good on pledges to facilitate the Palestinian presidential election next month including allowing free movement for candidates, the top European election monitor said on Monday.
Former French prime minister Michel Rocard, who is heading a 260-strong European Union observer mission, said Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' travel, including access to Jerusalem, were "not compatible with a normal campaign".
"It is absolutely necessary ... that candidates, their staff and Central Elections Commission agents have free movement in all the electing territories," he told Reuters in a telephone interview from Paris.
Israel has said it will take all necessary steps to help the Palestinians conduct a free and fair election on Jan. 9 to replace the late President Yasser Arafat, including easing restrictions on movement.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Monday that Israel plans to pull troops out of Palestinian cities during the vote. "We will do our best not to interfere with orderly procedure of the elections," he said.
More than 600 foreign observers were expected to monitor the vote in which moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of the dominant Fatah movement, was the front-runner after his main rival Marwan Barghouthi pulled out.
But less than a month before the elections, Rocard said he had seen little action on the ground although he was happy with Israel's public commitments.
"We have noticed that with pleasure," he said of Israeli statements committing to facilitate the poll. "The problem is to implement it.
CANDIDATES DETAINED
Israel briefly detained one candidate on Friday who tried to enter Jerusalem without a permit days after another candidate said troops beat him at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Jenin. The army said he had refused a routine car search.
Rocard called the incidents a "bad beginning" to the campaign. He said checkpoints needed to be removed or eased and soldiers manning them should have lists of candidates' names.
Wary of Palestinian militants waging a four-year-old revolt, Israel insists its tough security measures are a necessity.
"With all due respect, if they (international community) are committed to free elections, they should put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to use their security forces to secure free elections," a senior Israeli official said.
Rocard noted that Palestinians also had to work to ensure a fair campaign and in setting up a court to resolve any elections disputes. But he said fair elections could still be held.
Palestinians said they had received assurances on holding the vote, including in Arab East Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of a future state. Israel said there was no agreement yet but discussions were ongoing.
Palestinian voting in Jerusalem is contentious as both Israel and the Palestinians lay claim to the eastern part of the city, captured by the Jewish state in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally.
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