I wrote a few days ago of the difference between the elections in Iraq and the Palestinian Authority–the former seemed like a real one and the latter an anoinment. It now looks as if the Palestinian people agree. According to Haaretz and Debka, they are not turning out to vote, even though vans with loudspeakers are driving through the streets of Gaza urging them to. Debka writes that the polling day is being extended. Haaretz says Abbas’ team is worried about the low turnout. But… mirabile dictu… Jimmy Carter says everything is going well. For once, he’s not blaming the Israelis. From Haaretz:
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, one of 800 international monitors of the first Palestinian chairmanship election since 1996, said it appeared Israel was keeping to its promise to ease the passage of Palestinians at military checkpoints.
“There is no [Israeli] intimidation I have seen,” Carter told reporters after visiting checkpoints near Jerusalem.
UPDATE: The election is over with Abbas the winner with an estimated 66-70 percent of the vote, according to Haaretz. Mustafa Barghouti was second at around 20-24 percent, depending on exit polls. 65% of eligible voters turned out.
Debka sees it differently.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report real exit figures estimated in Washington and Jerusalem as 49-52% win for Abbas, 30-32% for runner-up Barghouti and no more than 45-48% turnout rather than 65%, largest proportion of which cast in two hours added to end of balloting to pump up figures. Barghouti claims to emerge as head of second largest Palestinian faction after Fatah and before Hamas.
Orderly vote count broke down, some ballot boxes never counted or reached Ramallah central election center. Final results will be announced Monday.
Anyway, that makes little difference. What is important is what Abbas will actually do, having just informed his supporters “We offer this victory to the soul of the brother martyr Yasser Arafat and to all Palestinians.” Donations from Europe are now open.
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11 Comments
1. lmg:There isn’t much choice between a known terrorist, and various unknown terrorists and psychopathic murderers. Since voting the “wrong” way can be hazardous to one’s health, staying home may be the best option.
Jan 9, 2005 - 10:11 am 2. Rick Ballard:Choosing between garbage and rubbish is rather difficult. Do you go with current stench or possible future stench?
Jan 9, 2005 - 10:53 am 3. Hermie:The participation of Jimmy Carter has already made these elections a joke.
Old Jimmy has upheld election fraud in leftist, anti American countries, and has remained mute when a dictatorship actually committed fraud against pro-American candidates.
But then, Jimmy was the first U.S. President to embrace the murderous thug Arafat as a ’statesman’.
Jan 9, 2005 - 11:10 am 4. nikita:ah yes, Carter, speechwriter to Yasser Arafat and friend to dictators worldround
Jan 9, 2005 - 12:30 pm 5. David Thomson:I do not believe that the Palestinian situation will be improved primarily by explicit agreements. Far too many people, especially those within the academic community, place an exaggerated emphasis on dotting all the ìiîs and crossing all the ìtîs. Tacit understandings, however, are often more useful. The Israelis must continue pursuing the militants and building the wall. After awhile, Israel can risk dropping a few restrictions which will help the Palestinian economy to grow. A few subtle changes here and there should make the difference.
Jan 9, 2005 - 12:35 pm 6. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):Just to toss a little spice in here, don’t forget that Menachem Begin was a terrorist – a major leader of the Irgun and the instigator of the infamous bombing of the King David Hotel.
Also, Yitzhak Shamir was a member of not only the Irgun but the even more extreme Stern Gang.
Interestingly, they both became prime ministers and Israel, under them, was not a terrorist state.
So perhaps this is a slight bit of hope. But more, I suspect it is due to the unique nature of Israel, its people, and their traditions and culture.
Jan 9, 2005 - 2:19 pm 7. kynna:Aol’s front page says “Strong turnout for Palestinian elections.”
Now who should I believe? Roger’s sources or AP-fed AOL?
Roger wins. The fact they had to extend hours not to accomodate all the masses, but to get more people to show up is a good sign the people saw this as “same old, same old.”
Jan 9, 2005 - 2:21 pm 8. David Thomson:ìJust to toss a little spice in here, don’t forget that Menachem Begin was a terrorist – a major leader of the Irgun and the instigator of the infamous bombing of the King David Hotel.î
Donít forget the 1948 assassination of Swedish humanitarian activist Count Folke Bernadotte by the Stern Gang. Thereís no question that Israel shares some of the blame. However, it is the intense anti-Semitism and self pitying victimhood nonsense of the Palestinians which is mostly responsible for the continuation of the horror.
It finally dawned on me what is the central difference between the George W. Bush Republicans and the national Democrats: the Republicans essentially believe that Israel is only 20% guilty while the Democrats foolishly contend that a 50% figure would be more accurate. This latter attitude inevitably leads to a moral equivalent perspective—and policies guaranteed to encourage more violence.
Jan 9, 2005 - 3:00 pm 9. Barry Dauphin:This just in. Jimmy Carter declares that the Palenstinian elections have been free and fair and that the winner is…..Hugo Chavez.
Jan 9, 2005 - 5:44 pm 10. jb:Let’s not take the “spice” discussion too far. The intent of the Jewish “terorists” was to establish a state where Jews could live in relative peace. They achieved their goal and stopped their attacks on British targets. The intent of the militant Palestinians is to wipe out the Jewish Israelis (i.e., another genocide). Even if you stipulate that they will cease terror tactics if they achieve their goal, it’s a stretch give them moral equivalence (unless you’re a Democrat or European).
Jan 9, 2005 - 6:54 pm 11. richard mcenroe:Looks like HostingMatters has been hacked again. LGF, Instapundit, CQ and Tim Blair are all down…
Jan 9, 2005 - 7:08 pm