Abbas Sets Date for Palestinian Election To Curb Terror

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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip – Palestinian Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday set January 21 as the date for long-overdue legislative elections in what senior officials said was an attempt to give terrorists incentive not to disrupt Israel’s Gaza withdrawal.


Mr. Abbas’s main political rival, Hamas, will compete in national elections for the first time, and is expected to make a strong showing. With an election date set, Hamas is less likely to do anything that could harm its popular support, including attacks on Israeli troops that would trigger a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza.


Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are trying to claim credit for Israel’s Gaza pullout, which began yesterday, as thousands of Israeli troops distributed eviction notices in Gaza settlements.


Hamas and other terrorists say they drove Israel out with shooting and bombing attacks, and Mr. Abbas has been concerned that armed groups will try to disrupt the pullout with rocket and shooting attacks to make that point. Mr. Abbas only stands to benefit from the pullout if it proceeds peacefully. Violence would make it more difficult for Israel to grant Palestinian Arab demands to open borders and ease living conditions in Gaza.


Hamas and the Palestinian Authority put up thousands of banners and posters yesterday in their race to claim victory.


“The blood of martyrs has led to liberation,” read one Hamas banner. “Ten years of sacrifice and resistance trump 10 years of negotiations,” proclaimed another, in a dig at Mr. Abbas’s nonviolent approach. Hamas also put up posters of a gunman carrying an antitank rocket on his shoulder. “We will continue,” read the caption.


Government workers tied about 5,000 Palestinian flags to electricity poles in Gaza City.


The Palestinian Stock Exchange, minuscule by international standards, rose 22.4 points over two days, a sign of growing optimism, chairman Hassan Yassin said. The “al Quds,” or Jerusalem, index has exceeded 800 points, from 721 points in May.


In Khan Younis, the town closest to the Gush Katif bloc of Israeli settlements, residents watched the start of the pullout with both hope and skepticism. Many said the withdrawal would be meaningful only if it gives them freedom of movement, after being fenced in for so long.


“The economic situation in Gaza is terrible. Our lives will only really improve if we can get access to foreign markets, if there’s a movement of goods,” said Jihad Safi, 37, owner of a clothing store in Khan Younis. “Without access, without easing movement in and out, very little will change.”


In more than four years of fighting, Israel has imposed severe travel restrictions on Gazans to keep out terrorists and prevent weapons from getting in. Israel and the Palestinian Arabs have not yet reached agreement on border controls. Israel has balked at a proposal to replace Israeli security officials with foreign inspectors at the Rafah crossing between Israel and Egypt.


Palestinian Arab police, meanwhile, set up posts close to the Israeli settlements, to serve as a buffer and prevent attacks on settlers and soldiers by Palestinian Arab terrorists. One post, an open-sided tent giving shade to about 25 officers, was just 50 yards from the Israeli settlement of Morag.


Just a few days ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable. Israeli troops, fearing infiltrations by Palestinian Arab terrorists, often fired on those coming too close to settlements. The Palestinian Arab officers near Morag were still nervous, though, about possible Israeli fire, and their commanders trained a large spotlight on them at night to make sure they weren’t inadvertently shot.


Mr. Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, set the election date yesterday in a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee in Gaza City, the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel, Saeb Erekat, said. A formal announcement is expected later in the week, after the formal publication of the amended election law.


Elections initially were to have been held in mid-July, but Mr. Abbas postponed to vote, angering Hamas, which accused him of playing dirty politics.


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