Sharon working against Palestinian democracy
- From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 08:07:15 -0400
Sharon working against Palestinian democracy
Sep 28, 2005, 23:42
Occupied Jerusalem - The Palestinian Authority has accused Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon of seeking to sabotage the upcoming Palestinian
legislative elections, slated for 27 January.
The Israeli army has been rounding up hundreds of mainly Islamic political
activists throughout the West Bank, many of whom are viewed as either actual
or potential candidates for the elections.
Most of the detainees, who include doctors, engineers, university
professors, students, businessmen and other professionals have been sent to
the notorious "Kitziot" detention center in the Negev desert for what it
seems open-ended incarceration.
"I have no doubt that Sharon is apprehensive about the very idea of allowing
Palestinians to have elections. He realizes that democracy empower our
people, and he wants to keep us in a perpetual state of weakness so that he
could impose on us the fait accompli," said Ahmed Subh, the PA official
spokesman.
In an interview with PIC, Subh accused Sharon of "harboring insidious design
and ill will toward the entire peace process."
"He wants to push the entire region to an imbroglio of violence and counter
violence for the purpose of impeding or neutralizing any meaningful
international effort to restart the peace process.
"He knows that reviving the peace process would exert pressure on him to
carry out the terms of the roadmap, and he is not ready for that."
Asked if the arrest of hundreds of pro-Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and
activists could hinder the organization of Palestinian elections on time,
Subh said the Palestinians wouldn't play into Sharon's hands.
"Of course, this is his desire, I have no doubt about that. But we will not
play into his hands and enable him to fulfill his desire. We will hold the
elections on time."
Sharon and his Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom made explicit threats to
disrupt or even prevent the organization of Palestinian parliamentary
elections if Hamas was allowed to participate.
" We will make every effort not to help them. I don't think they can have
elections without our help," Sharon was quoted as telling reporters in New
York on 16 September.
Hence, the arrest of the estimated 400 Islamic leaders and activists during
the past few days is seen here as a fulfillment of these threats.
However, Israeli government spokesmen deny that the arrests are meant to
thwart the upcoming elections.
"We dont arrest innocent people. These people are hostile to Israel and
support Hamas. They will be tried and imprisoned, and those proven innocent
will be released," said Amira Oron, an Israeli foreign ministry spokeswoman.
Oron's statements were strongly rejected by an un-arrested Islamist
spokesman in the Bethlehem region, who only agreed to give his nickname,
apparently for fear of arrest.
"In any democratic country, people are arrested only where there is credible
evidence incriminating them. Here under the so-called 'only democracy in the
Middle East,' people are arrested because of their beliefs and views," said
Abu Ahmed.
"Their brutal soldiers raid our homes in the quiet hours before dawn, they
beat husbands before their wives and kids, drag them to detention camps,
then they tell the world, look how much the Palestinian hate us!
"This is only a preview of the democracy Sharon and Bush are promising Arabs
and Muslims in the Middle East."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends of Al Aqsa is a voluntary organisation concerned with the defence of
Al Aqsa Haram Sharif and the protection of Palestinian Human Rights.
http://www.aqsa.org.uk
.
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