VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #0139/01 0121041
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 121041Z JAN 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9633
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000139 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG PBTS IS KPAL KDEM
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ELECTIONS SITREP 
#5: JANUARY 12, 2006: ABU MAZEN URGES INDEPENDENT FATAH 
CANDIDATES TO WITHDRAW; ISRAEL GIVES CEC PARAMETERS FOR 
EAST JERUSALEM CAMPAIGNING 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.    (C) Summary.  Palestinian Authority (PA) President 
Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) January 11 appealed for independent 
Fatah candidates running in the district races to withdraw 
their candidacies.  Palestinian contacts suggest that this 
request will have minimal effect on most of these candidates. 
 The Israeli Police January 9 provided the Central Elections 
Commission (CEC) a list of approved Israeli procedures for 
campaign activities in East Jerusalem, some of which are less 
than what was permitted in 1996 and 2005.  Israeli Police on 
January 11 arrested and fined campaign workers who attempted 
to put up campaign posters.  A flyer was circulated in 
Tulkarm January 10, reportedly by Fatah supporters, 
criticizing the candidacy of "Third Way" candidate Salam 
Fayyad.  EU international observers received promises from PA 
Police in Jenin and Ramallah that their security would be 
assured despite recent threats from al-Aqsa gunmen in Jenin. 
End summary. 
 
Abbas Urges Independents 
to Withdraw From Race 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.    (C) During a January 11 meeting with approximately 
50-60 Fatah PLC candidates -- including some Fatah candidates 
running as independents -- at his Ramallah presidential 
office, PA President Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) urged 
independent Fatah candidates to withdraw from the district 
races.  Abu Mazen outlined the problems Fatah confronted, 
including the internal divisions within the movement and the 
lack of discipline among the cadres.  He expressed 
displeasure with Fatah candidates who, in efforts to buttress 
support for their candidacy, had criticized the Fatah 
national list.  Abu Mazen stated that delaying the elections 
was not an option since a resolution to voting in Jerusalem 
appeared imminent.  Abu Mazen concluded that he would reach 
out to the independent Fatah candidates and seek their 
withdraw.  (Note:  Approximately half of the 260 independent 
candidates running in the 16 district races are from Fatah, 
including two members from the Fatah Revolutionary Council. 
ConGen Palestinian contacts suggest that Abu Mazen's 
entreaties will have minimal effect on the independents who 
believe they have better chances of winning than the 
"official" Fatah candidates.  End note.) 
 
Israel Gives CEC "Approved" 
Campaign Activity for Jerusalem 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3.    (C) Ammar Dweik, the CEC's Chief Electoral Officer, 
provided ConGen January 11 with a list of Israeli parameters 
for Palestinian campaign activity in East Jerusalem.  Dweik 
said that the list was presented to the CEC's Jerusalem 
district coordinator by the Israeli Police legal advisor in 
Jerusalem during a January 9 meeting.  The list includes: 
 
-- The display of campaign billboards.  Israel has indicated 
that it would allow up to 20 campaign advertisements in East 
Jerusalem, including five within the city center, and 15 on 
the outskirts of the city.  Dweik said that up to 40 
billboards were allowed under the 1996 arrangements. 
 
-- No advertisements in private shops or businesses.  Dweik 
said that this represented a key derivation from the 1996 
arrangements. 
 
-- No candidate meetings in areas other than private homes 
and only through prior coordination with Israel.  No outdoor 
candidate meetings permitted. 
 
-- Candidates must provide the CEC at least 24 hours 
notification if they intend to conduct meetings in Jerusalem. 
 
-- No public display in Jerusalem of Palestinian flags and 
Palestinian symbols, including the CEC's logo. 
 
-- Campaigning to cease 24 hours prior to the opening of 
polling stations on January 25. 
 
¶4.    (C) Dweik reiterated that the arrangements related only 
to campaigning in Jerusalem and said that the Israeli Police 
legal advisor had indicated that there was no final decision 
yet on Election Day voting inside Jerusalem.  In a separate 
January 11 telecon, Anwar Darkazally, a policy advisor with 
the PLO Negotiations Support Unit, described the campaign 
regulations as unacceptable since they put significant limits 
 
 
 
on the freedom of assembly for candidates and their 
supporters in Jerusalem.  Darkazally said that 39 candidates 
participating in the January 25 district elections in 
Jerusalem were informed of these campaign procedures during a 
January 11 meeting with CEC officials.  He said that the 
candidates were "furious" with the campaign regulations, 
since violators would face arrest and stiff fines on 
campaigns from the Israeli authorities.  (Note: Israeli 
Police January 12 arrested and fined campaign activists 
attempting to put up posters in East Jerusalem.  End note.) 
 
Anti-Fayyad Statement 
Circulated in Tulkarm 
--------------------- 
 
¶5.    (C) A flyer attacking PLC candidate Salam Fayyad, 
reportedly from Fatah activists, was circulated in Tulkarm on 
January 10.  The flyer, which labels Fayyad as an American 
intelligence agent, comes in the wake of mounting frustration 
among Fatah supporters that Fayyad's independent faction, 
"Third Way," was pulling votes away from the "official" Fatah 
national list. 
 
¶6.    (C) The following is an unofficial ConGen translation 
of the January 10 flyer: 
 
Begin text: 
 
Decent people of Tulkarm: The governorate of martyrs which 
has sacrificed many wounded and martyrs and has preceded all 
other decent Fatah members in other areas.  This statement we 
put out to you in order to divulge and expose the truth 
behind the American/CIA agent, the so-called Salam Fayyad. 
This rotten filthy agent who covers himself with patriotic 
cover is trying to buy your votes by dollars, which were 
given to him by his masters.  We appeal to you by the name of 
martyrs and the agonies of prisoners to ask this filthy agent 
where he has been before?  Why wasn't he in your town?  We 
tell you he has been making dollars and serving the American 
Zionist plots.  His election is meant to serve himself and 
not his people who suffer tremendously under occupation. 
Beware of this malicious scheme of this grubby person Salam 
Fayyad. 
 
The Free sons of Fatah 
The Concerned Over the People's Interest 
 
End text. 
 
PA Police Assure 
Observers of Their Security 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7.    (C) During a January 11 telecon with ConGen Poloff, 
Richard Chambers, the Deputy Chief for the EU Observation 
Mission, said that he and other EU observers had received 
assurances from PA Police in Jenin and Ramallah that the 
police would provide security to EU's long-term observer 
teams operating in Jenin.  The police told the observers that 
previous threats by Jenin's al-Aqsa commander, Zakaria 
Zubeidi, had been dealt with. 
 
¶8.    (C) In a separate conversation on Election Day 
security, an international advisor working for the CEC 
January 11 told ConGen Poloff that voting for the PA Security 
Forces would commence January 22 for three days. 
Approximately 58,000 security personnel (one-third of whom 
are stationed in the West Bank) listed on the CEC's voter 
registration list would be allowed to cast ballots in the 
localities where they are registered to vote.  The advisor 
reported that the PA Ministry of Interior had yet to make 
logistical arrangements with either the CEC or the IDF on the 
movement of PA security personnel to their respective voting 
locations.  He also commented that PA Minister of Interior 
Nasser Yusif had shown little urgency in making those 
arrangements. 
 
Summary of Local 
Press Coverage 
---------------- 
 
¶9.    (SBU) The Palestinian dailies January 10-11 published 
front-page reports that PA President Abbas received USG 
assurances that campaigning and elections will be held in 
Jerusalem.  The dailies quoted Abbas who said that he would 
not accept the exclusion of Jerusalem from any aspect of the 
elections.  Abbas added that the elections will proceed as 
 
 
 
 
 
scheduled and urged Palestinians to exercise their democratic 
rights. 
 
-- The dailies published statements from Israeli Defense 
Minster Mofaz, who said Israel would permit elections in 
Jerusalem provided they are based on the same regulations and 
conditions that governed Palestinian elections in 1996 and 
¶2005.  Al-Ayyam reported that Palestinians refused Israeli 
conditions for campaigning in Jerusalem, as laid out by 
Israeli Minister of Interior, Gideon Ezra, because Hamas and 
the PFLP would be excluded from participating.  Jerusalem PLC 
candidate Hatem 'Abd al-Qader said, "We are one united 
body...we refuse Israeli interference." 
 
-- The dailies also published a statement from jailed West 
Bank Fatah leader and PLC candidate Marwan Barghuti calling 
for January 25 to be a "democratic and national unity day." 
Barghuti promised that an elected Fatah-led government would 
be free of corruption and respect law and order. 
 
-- A Birzeit University poll that will be published on 
January 14 reportedly shows that Fatah would win 35 percent 
of the vote, compared to Hamas at 31 percent. 
WALLES