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Photo: PA
Palestinian police officer casting his ballot
Photo: PA

'Officers who voted for Hamas arrested'

According to Hamas officials, Palestinian police officers brought to voting stations in official security vehicles were forced to vote for Fatah

The voting of approximately 60,000 Palestinian Authority security officers in the Palestinian parliament elections is causing a great amount of tension between Fatah and Hamas members and may be an indicator of what is expected during Election Day on Wednesday.

 

The security officers' voting, which began Saturday, is scheduled to end Monday.

 

In a statement issued by Hamas, the movement accused the PA of arresting security officers after their commanders found out that they did not vote for Fatah.

 

Hamas officials said that five Palestinian police officers were detained for a number of hours on Sunday in the Tul Karm area, after PA officials discovered that they failed to vote for Fatah.

 

In the statement, Hamas slammed the PA over the detentions.

 

"God created people to be free. Why do you treat them as your slaves?" the statement said.

 

Hamas and the civil organizations supervising the elections claimed that Fatah was using the Palestinian security organization's official vehicles for the elections.

 

The organizations charged that Fatah members were accompanying Palestinian police officers to the voting station in the official vehicles. They claimed that the vehicles were part of Fatah's election campaign.

 

PA officials rejected the accusations, and the Palestinian Interior and National Security Ministry pointed an accusing finger at Hamas, claiming that its members were using weapons in an attempt to influence the security officers' vote.

 

Ministry officials charged that a Hamas supervisor arrived at one of the voting stations carrying a gun, two cartridges and a hand grenade in a bid to create an atmosphere of pressure and to intimidate the security officers during the vote.

 

Islamic Jihad: Boycott elections

 

Despite Fatah's official claims that security officers, like any other Palestinian citizen, are entitled to vote for any of the parties taking part in the elections, sources in the movement expressed their hope that Fatah's election list and its candidates will gain a particularly high share of the security officers' votes.

 

A Fatah activist in Ramallah, however, told Ynet that he and his people were amazed to see Hamas members campaigning Sunday at security officers' voting stations.

 

"The Hamas members talked to them about conscience, about religion and about God, and I think that they succeeded in stealing from us more than 500 votes out of the 2,800 security officers registered in Ramallah."

 

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad called on its supporters to boycott the elections.

 

"We call upon all our fighters and supporters not to take part in this election in any form," the group said in a statement.

 

The effect of the Islamic Jihad's statement on the elections is still unclear as Hamas is known to have a greater influence on the Palestinian public.

 

Reuters contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.23.06, 12:18
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