Elections? Or Not?

It looks very uncertain indeed whether it will be possible for the Palestinian legislative elecions to go forward on January 25th as planned.

It's the Jerusalem dispute that is holding up everything. Until now, the Israeli authorities has not allowed the Palestinians of East Jerusalem to take part in the vote.

And now it seems that there has been established a consensus among the Palestinian factions that without voting rights in East Jerusalem the entire election will be postponed.

On this, there is no doubt that the Palestinians are right. Neither the European Union nor the United States nor anyone else would accept if Israel forcibly tries to deny these Palestinians their voting rights.

The signals from Israel is that a final decision hasn't been taken.

Good. That still leaves some room. Let's hope that Israel sees what at the end of the day is in its own interest as well.


Haaretz - Israel News - Abbas threatens to delay PLC vote over Jerusalem dispute