PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ELECTIONS SITREP

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000139

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG PBTS IS KPAL KDEM
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ELECTIONS SITREP
#5: JANUARY 12, 2006: ABU MAZEN URGES INDEPENDENT FATAH
CANDIDATES TO WITHDRAW; ISRAEL GIVES CEC PARAMETERS FOR
EAST JERUSALEM CAMPAIGNING


Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. Palestinian Authority (PA) President
Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) January 11 appealed for independent
Fatah candidates running in the district races to withdraw
their candidacies. Palestinian contacts suggest that this
request will have minimal effect on most of these candidates.
The Israeli Police January 9 provided the Central Elections
Commission (CEC) a list of approved Israeli procedures for
campaign activities in East Jerusalem, some of which are less
than what was permitted in 1996 and 2005. Israeli Police on
January 11 arrested and fined campaign workers who attempted
to put up campaign posters. A flyer was circulated in
Tulkarm January 10, reportedly by Fatah supporters,
criticizing the candidacy of "Third Way" candidate Salam
Fayyad. EU international observers received promises from PA
Police in Jenin and Ramallah that their security would be
assured despite recent threats from al-Aqsa gunmen in Jenin.
End summary.

Abbas Urges Independents
to Withdraw From Race
--------------


2. (C) During a January 11 meeting with approximately
50-60 Fatah PLC candidates -- including some Fatah candidates
running as independents -- at his Ramallah presidential
office, PA President Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) urged
independent Fatah candidates to withdraw from the district
races. Abu Mazen outlined the problems Fatah confronted,
including the internal divisions within the movement and the
lack of discipline among the cadres. He expressed
displeasure with Fatah candidates who, in efforts to buttress
support for their candidacy, had criticized the Fatah
national list. Abu Mazen stated that delaying the elections
was not an option since a resolution to voting in Jerusalem
appeared imminent. Abu Mazen concluded that he would reach
out to the independent Fatah candidates and seek their
withdraw. (Note: Approximately half of the 260 independent
candidates running in the 16 district races are from Fatah,
including two members from the Fatah Revolutionary Council.
ConGen Palestinian contacts suggest that Abu Mazen's
entreaties will have minimal effect on the independents who
believe they have better chances of winning than the
"official" Fatah candidates. End note.)

Israel Gives CEC "Approved"
Campaign Activity for Jerusalem
--------------


3. (C) Ammar Dweik, the CEC's Chief Electoral Officer,
provided ConGen January 11 with a list of Israeli parameters
for Palestinian campaign activity in East Jerusalem. Dweik
said that the list was presented to the CEC's Jerusalem
district coordinator by the Israeli Police legal advisor in
Jerusalem during a January 9 meeting. The list includes:

-- The display of campaign billboards. Israel has indicated
that it would allow up to 20 campaign advertisements in East
Jerusalem, including five within the city center, and 15 on
the outskirts of the city. Dweik said that up to 40
billboards were allowed under the 1996 arrangements.

-- No advertisements in private shops or businesses. Dweik
said that this represented a key derivation from the 1996
arrangements.

-- No candidate meetings in areas other than private homes
and only through prior coordination with Israel. No outdoor
candidate meetings permitted.

-- Candidates must provide the CEC at least 24 hours
notification if they intend to conduct meetings in Jerusalem.

-- No public display in Jerusalem of Palestinian flags and
Palestinian symbols, including the CEC's logo.

-- Campaigning to cease 24 hours prior to the opening of
polling stations on January 25.


4. (C) Dweik reiterated that the arrangements related only
to campaigning in Jerusalem and said that the Israeli Police
legal advisor had indicated that there was no final decision
yet on Election Day voting inside Jerusalem. In a separate
January 11 telecon, Anwar Darkazally, a policy advisor with
the PLO Negotiations Support Unit, described the campaign
regulations as unacceptable since they put significant limits



on the freedom of assembly for candidates and their
supporters in Jerusalem. Darkazally said that 39 candidates
participating in the January 25 district elections in
Jerusalem were informed of these campaign procedures during a
January 11 meeting with CEC officials. He said that the
candidates were "furious" with the campaign regulations,
since violators would face arrest and stiff fines on
campaigns from the Israeli authorities. (Note: Israeli
Police January 12 arrested and fined campaign activists
attempting to put up posters in East Jerusalem. End note.)

Anti-Fayyad Statement
Circulated in Tulkarm
--------------


5. (C) A flyer attacking PLC candidate Salam Fayyad,
reportedly from Fatah activists, was circulated in Tulkarm on
January 10. The flyer, which labels Fayyad as an American
intelligence agent, comes in the wake of mounting frustration
among Fatah supporters that Fayyad's independent faction,
"Third Way," was pulling votes away from the "official" Fatah
national list.


6. (C) The following is an unofficial ConGen translation
of the January 10 flyer:

Begin text:

Decent people of Tulkarm: The governorate of martyrs which
has sacrificed many wounded and martyrs and has preceded all
other decent Fatah members in other areas. This statement we
put out to you in order to divulge and expose the truth
behind the American/CIA agent, the so-called Salam Fayyad.
This rotten filthy agent who covers himself with patriotic
cover is trying to buy your votes by dollars, which were
given to him by his masters. We appeal to you by the name of
martyrs and the agonies of prisoners to ask this filthy agent
where he has been before? Why wasn't he in your town? We
tell you he has been making dollars and serving the American
Zionist plots. His election is meant to serve himself and
not his people who suffer tremendously under occupation.
Beware of this malicious scheme of this grubby person Salam
Fayyad.

The Free sons of Fatah
The Concerned Over the People's Interest

End text.

PA Police Assure
Observers of Their Security
--------------


7. (C) During a January 11 telecon with ConGen Poloff,
Richard Chambers, the Deputy Chief for the EU Observation
Mission, said that he and other EU observers had received
assurances from PA Police in Jenin and Ramallah that the
police would provide security to EU's long-term observer
teams operating in Jenin. The police told the observers that
previous threats by Jenin's al-Aqsa commander, Zakaria
Zubeidi, had been dealt with.


8. (C) In a separate conversation on Election Day
security, an international advisor working for the CEC
January 11 told ConGen Poloff that voting for the PA Security
Forces would commence January 22 for three days.
Approximately 58,000 security personnel (one-third of whom
are stationed in the West Bank) listed on the CEC's voter
registration list would be allowed to cast ballots in the
localities where they are registered to vote. The advisor
reported that the PA Ministry of Interior had yet to make
logistical arrangements with either the CEC or the IDF on the
movement of PA security personnel to their respective voting
locations. He also commented that PA Minister of Interior
Nasser Yusif had shown little urgency in making those
arrangements.

Summary of Local
Press Coverage
--------------


9. (SBU) The Palestinian dailies January 10-11 published
front-page reports that PA President Abbas received USG
assurances that campaigning and elections will be held in
Jerusalem. The dailies quoted Abbas who said that he would
not accept the exclusion of Jerusalem from any aspect of the
elections. Abbas added that the elections will proceed as





scheduled and urged Palestinians to exercise their democratic
rights.

-- The dailies published statements from Israeli Defense
Minster Mofaz, who said Israel would permit elections in
Jerusalem provided they are based on the same regulations and
conditions that governed Palestinian elections in 1996 and

2005. Al-Ayyam reported that Palestinians refused Israeli
conditions for campaigning in Jerusalem, as laid out by
Israeli Minister of Interior, Gideon Ezra, because Hamas and
the PFLP would be excluded from participating. Jerusalem PLC
candidate Hatem 'Abd al-Qader said, "We are one united
body...we refuse Israeli interference."

-- The dailies also published a statement from jailed West
Bank Fatah leader and PLC candidate Marwan Barghuti calling
for January 25 to be a "democratic and national unity day."
Barghuti promised that an elected Fatah-led government would
be free of corruption and respect law and order.

-- A Birzeit University poll that will be published on
January 14 reportedly shows that Fatah would win 35 percent
of the vote, compared to Hamas at 31 percent.
WALLES