[Shadow_Group] Abbas Escapes Gunfire, Palestinians to Vote Jan. 9

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Legally, they have to hold an election 60 days after
Arafat's death. What's interesting is one of the
potential candidates and some say is the best hope for
peace between Israel and Palestine is now in a Israel
Prison for murder. I'll find the article I read about
that and send it in my next post.

By the way, the very last sentence in this article
pretty well explains one of the biggest divides
between the two cultures.
===========
Abbas Escapes Gunfire, Palestinians to Vote Jan. 9
Sun Nov 14, 1:43 PM ET   Top Stories - Reuters 
By Nidal al-Mughrabi 

FROM:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=13&u=/nm/20041114/ts_nm/mideast_dc<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=13&u=/nm/20041114/ts_nm/mideast_dc>
GAZA (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat's interim successor
escaped injury in a Gaza gunfight triggered by hostile
militants on Sunday as Palestinian officials set Jan.
9 for elections to replace the late president and
avert a feared power vacuum. 

The clash at a mourning tent set up for Arafat was the
latest sign of factional anarchy challenging would-be
moderate heirs to Arafat who are favored by Washington
as potential peacemakers with Israel but lack a
popular power base. 

The incident began after gunmen from Arafat's
splintered Fatah movement shouting "No to Abu Mazen"
-- Abbas's nickname -- marched by him as he stood
outside the tent, paused and began firing shots into
the air. 

The gunmen's rifles were pointed upwards, not at Abbas
and Palestinian officials said it was not an
assassination attempt. 

Members of Arafat's presidential guard hustled Abbas,
69, into the tent and threw him to the ground for his
safety as the militants burst in. Chaos ensued as
gunmen and bodyguards began shooting at each other. In
the end, two bodyguards lay dead and four other
Palestinians were wounded, medics said. 

As gunfire blazed about him, Abbas was hustled to
safety in his local office. The gunmen withdrew and no
one was arrested. 

"We were paying condolences. Emotions were high. There
was random gunfire and pushing in the crowd," a
calm-looking Abbas told reporters at his office
afterward. 

"There was chaos and there was previous chaos (in
Gaza), and perhaps that was one of the reasons leading
to today's events." 

Abbas is disliked by militants because he advocates a
negotiated peace with Israel and has condemned suicide
bombings and other violence in a 4-year-old
Palestinian uprising. 

He has been chosen chairman of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, the highest Palestinian
decision-making body, and is tipped as the
presidential candidate of Fatah. 


DREADED POWER VACUUM 

Arafat's death on Thursday at 75 left power in the
uncertain hands of veteran deputies lacking the vast
popular stature that the charismatic founder of
Palestinian nationalism long enjoyed. 

Elections to be held within the 60 days set by law
will be crucial to creating a democratic leadership
with a mandate to start reforms, tackle lawlessness
and launch talks with Israel. 

"There will be free and direct elections to elect the
president of the Palestinian National Authority on
Jan. 9, 2005," interim president Rawhi Fattouh told
reporters. 

Palestinian leadership changes and President Bush's
re-election have revived hope for talks although
Israel's rightist government is sticking to a
unilateral plan to quit occupied Gaza while sealing
its grip on much of the West Bank. 

During his first term, Bush took Israel's lead in
boycotting ex-guerrilla leader Arafat as an alleged
obstacle to peace and drew global criticism that it
was neglecting Middle East diplomacy and leaving a
void filled with violence. 

U.S. officials signaled readiness at the weekend to
kickstart Middle East negotiations frozen since 2000. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom left on
Saturday for the United States, where he and Secretary
of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) were expected
to discuss the new situation in the region. 

Powell said on Saturday he hoped to meet Palestinian
leaders "in the very near future" in a fresh thrust
for peace. A U.S. official said that could happen at a
Nov. 22-23 conference in Egypt or at some other time
in the Palestinian territories. 

But Palestinian officials warned that elections might
not be feasible unless Israel pulled back forces in
the West Bank and allowed voting in Arab east
Jerusalem. 

Powell said Israel should permit free movement in the
West Bank to enable smooth voting for Arafat's
successor. But Israel rules out unblocking Palestinian
cities unless militants cease attacks. They swore no
respite to violence after Arafat died. 

But political sources close to Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon said he would likely relent on
Palestinian voting in east Jerusalem if pushed by
Washington. Palestinians there voted in presidential
and legislative elections in 1996. 

Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of
the state they seek in all of the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel regards east Jerusalem, which it annexed after
the 1967 Middle East war, as part of its indivisible
eternal capital. 

(additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Wafa
Amr)






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