Israel refuses entry to Palestinian election commission to Gaza, Jerusalem

Israel has refused to allow officials of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission to enter the Gaza Strip and occupied Jerusalem as part of preparations for legislative elections scheduled for late November, a Palestinian source said on Tuesday.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted an unnamed “responsible” source as saying the Israeli government had refused to allow the commission to enter Gaza and Jerusalem to oversee the elections, without providing further details.

On 9 July, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree setting 28 November as the date for legislative elections in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. If held, they would be the first of their kind since 2006.

On 26 September, the Central Elections Commission began accepting applications to register electoral lists. It received applications from eight lists during the first four days, with registration continuing until 13 October.

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Palestinian Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh said during a meeting with journalists on 2 August that if the elections could not be held “due to preventing or obstructing their conduct in the Gaza Strip or any other part of the Palestinian territories, the alternative plan would be to form the National Council by consensus, considering the Palestine Liberation Organisation the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people”.

About 2.97 million Palestinians are eligible to vote, including around 1.59 million in the West Bank, 1.24 million in the Gaza Strip and about 140,000 holders of Jerusalem IDs.

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