news reports —
|
|
|
• Links
|
|
|
ARCHIVES —
• About Rafah
• Snapshots
• Cartoons
• Special reports
• Homeless families
• Home demolitions
• Deaths & wounded
|
26 January 06 Abu Zuhri, a Hamas political leader: "The time has came for Hamas to build the bridge towards the West" After a long election day in Palestine, the result appears as the Islamist movement of Hamas is ahead of the ruling Fatah faction in the Palestinian parliamentary election, a source in the central elections commission said Thursday. "Hamas is ahead of Fatah, particularly in the constituencies," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Half of the 132 deputies in the Ramallah-based parliament were being elected in constituencies while the other 66 will come from party lists. With Hamas headed for victory, Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei announced his resignation and said the Islamist movement must form the next government. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said that the result of the general election must be respected. The election commission said the vote count was now close to completion. "The counting of the ballots has nearly finished," the source stated.
An elderly woman places her vote in a ballot box.
Voters' fingers are dipped in ink. Hamas called for the U.S. to respect the result of the elections and 'the will of the Palestinian people.' "I call on the American administration to respect...the will of the Palestinian people and the result of the ballot," chief Hamas candidate Ismail Haniya said. "Hamas is not going to work alone, but with the other groups who represent the Palestinian people," he said. Meanwhile, Israel was in shock over the likely Palestinian electoral victory of Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis and advocates the destruction of the Jewish state. Israel's Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert prepared to convene an emergency security meeting. Late Wednesday, he announced that Israel could not allow Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and which has vowed not to disarm, to join the Palestinian Authority in its current form. The right-wing opposition poured scorn on the government for standing by as Hamas took part in the election, which threatens to have profound consequences on Israel's own general election on March 28. The government was biding its time Thursday and waiting for the official results, not expected until 7 pm (1700 GMT), before reacting further. Radio and television stations devoted their morning coverage to special programming.
A supporter of Hamas diplays her inked finger,
22 January 06 A Palestinian man has been killed in Gaza City when an Israeli missile slammed into the car he was traveling in, medical and security said this evening. Another seven civilians were injured in the same attack. Witnesses and security sources said the missile hit a civilian car, completely destroying it. The victim was named as 22-year-old Mohammed Abdullah, but it was not immediately clear if he belonged to any particular faction. The Israeli army denied any involvement in the strike Sunday, which took place three days before Palestinians go to the polls to elect a new parliament.
Palestinians during election campaigns in Gaza City. The latest death has risen to 4,935 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000. More than three-quarters have been Palestinians. Violence and shooting day and night in the North of Gaza Strip is still going on during the preparation of the Palestinian legislative elections on the 25th of January. The elections started a few days ago for police and security forces. Elections will be held on the 25th of January for all Palestinians in Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem.
A Palestinian election employee gives instructions to the 14 January 06 Dozens of gunmen, including off-duty policemen, have blocked two main roads in the Gaza Strip, demanding retribution for the killing of a policeman in a drug raid a week ago. The Palestinian interior ministry said the protests held up traffic on Gaza's two main north-south roads for about an hour on Saturday. The incidents were the latest sign of a growing wave of chaos gripping the coastal strip in the run-up to elections on 25 January. The protesters, who included relatives and former colleagues of the dead officer, demanded that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, popularly known as Abu Mazen, impose order in Gaza.
Abbas speaking to the media. They also called for the resignation of Nasser Yousef, the interior minister, who oversees Palestinian security. A spokesman for the gunmen, identifying himself as Abu Wasfi said: "This is a first step and a message to Abu Mazen ... we ask him to use the force of law also and arrest the killers and execute them." The gunmen opened the roads after about an hour. Abbas has called for an end to the lawlessness. But his security forces, weakened by internal divisions and fighting with Israel, have been unable to restore order. The plainclothes officers said they are members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to Abbas's Fatah party. Al Aqsa was set up shortly after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, and was largely controlled by Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian president. Many of the recruits were members of the Fatah and the security forces. 9 January 06
One Palestinian was killed and three others injured on Saturday in clashes between gunmen and policemen in Gaza City, security and medical sources said. The shooting broke out when gunmen tried to enter a Palestinian Authority building in Gaza City after nightfall, a security source said. Medical sources at the main hospital in Gaza City confirmed that one person was killed and three others injured. The identities of the victims were not immediately clear, but security sources said that the dead man was neither a gunman nor a police officer. Persistent security chaos in the Gaza Strip has skyrocketed since Israel withdrew all troops and settlers from the Palestinian territory in September following a 38-year occupation.
Hamas leaders during election campagion and activities The economy beats feebly, filling the streets with armed men and markets and chaotic traffic during the day and emptying them but for scattered police patrols and idle young men at night. The Palestinian Authority, charged with governing the territory together with the West Bank, maintains tenuous control. "The intifada has ended, but the violent energy is still there," said Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist and human rights activist living here. In Gaza City on Saturday night, one man was killed during a gun battle between armed militants and the police, while elsewhere in town another armed group threatened to destroy the local offices of the satellite television station Al Arabiya, which is based in Dubai. The men were angry at the station for broadcasting a documentary that suggested that female Palestinian suicide bombers had been put under pressure by male relatives.
Click here to view other reports © All images on this site are copyrighted. If you wish to use any image,
|
