Palestinian Supreme Court halts municipal elections in the West Bank, Gaza Strip

[oberliner]

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – The Palestinian Supreme Court in Ramallah Thursday ordered a halt on municipal elections in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip expected to be held on October 8.

The decision was made after a court in the Gaza Strip dropped five Fatah-affiliated candidates from participating in the local elections in the besieged enclave, a source from the Supreme Court told Ma’an. The Fatah-controlled Supreme Court said the decision was in response to several appeals submitted by lawyers challenging the legitimacy of elections that would not include East Jerusalem, while calling elections in the Gaza Strip “illegal.”

Lawyer Nael al-Houh had previously appealed to the Supreme Court to postpone local elections, claiming the elections would be illegitimate if only conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and not East Jerusalem, sources said.

The court decided to hold another session on December 21 to further discuss the appeal submitted by al-Houh, according to court sources.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773059

[King_David]

1. Democracy

What a joke?

[Little Tich]

2. Isn't the Israeli decision to prevent an election in occupied East Jerusalem in contravention of

international law?

Anyway, I hope that there will be elections at least in those areas where Hamas and Israel don't interfere.

[oberliner]

3. Which law?

[Little Tich]

4. I dunno.

It's just a bit strange that a democratic country can prevent people in the occupied territories from participating in their own elections. It's actually a subject worth investigating, don't you think?

[oberliner]

5. What kind of investigation?

Conducted by whom? To determine what?

Israel has already stated that they would not allow voting in E Jerusalem with Hamas, a terrorist organization, participating.

I would point out that Hamas is also banned in Jordan from participating in any elections there, in spite of the large Palestinian population living in that country.

[Little Tich]

7. Suppressing people's right to vote is hardly what democracies should be doing.

I can understand that countries like China and Saudi-Arabia try to prevent popular voting from taking place, but what's Israel's excuse?

[shira]

8. Your disingenuous attacks vs. Israel for being undemocratic is especially vile....

.....given the psychotic maniacs of Hamas are a genuine security threat in E.Jerusalem to Israelis.

[Little Tich]

9. It seems as if Israel violates the the provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as

well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

I suppose that Israel doesn't think that they apply to Palestinians...

STUDY GUIDE: The Right to Vote
Source: University of Minnesota Human Rights Center, 2003

I. Introduction

One of the most critical ways that individuals can influence governmental decision-making is through voting. Voting is a formal expression of preference for a candidate for office or for a proposed resolution of an issue. Voting generally takes place in the context of a large-scale national or regional election, however, local and small-scale community elections can be just as critical to individual participation in government.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, recognizes the integral role that transparent and open elections play in ensuring the fundamental right to participatory government. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 21 states:

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his/her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedures.

The role that periodic, free elections play in ensuring respect for political rights also is enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, the Charter of the Organization of American States, the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and many other international human rights documents.

Read more: http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/studyguides/votingrights.html

[oberliner]

10. Israel does have transparent and open elections

Palestinian citizens of Israel are free to participate in them.

In fact, there have been several political parties represented in the Israeli parliament that were/are led by Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Terrorist organizations (such as Kach) are banned from participating.

Similarly, Israel will not allow elections that involve the participation of Hamas (another terrorist organization).

I believe those actions are permitted under international law.

In terms of the Declaration, it seems that a good many of the countries of the world are not in compliance with it, sadly.

[Little Tich]

11. I've heard that there are around 300.000 people in East Jerusalem who are not

Israeli citizens and are under occupation.

What about them - doesn't the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights apply to them at all? Is it really cool to prevent them from participating in their own elections?

[branford]

12. Are you suggesting non-citizens should be allowed to vote?

Also, do you actually know why many of those purported East Jerusalem residents aren't citizens?

Most chose to forgo citizenship rather than recognize Israel or Israeli sovereignty. It's a political choice.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.630605

[shira]

6. You mean allowing Hamas terrorists into E.Jerusalem should be allowed....

As though there's no security risk whatsoever, right?

So you're bashing the Jewish state for preventing murderous Hamas psychotics close to a large population of Jews.

A new low.