Palestinian militant gets vote, Israel cries foul

Palestinian election officials have given voting rights to a jailed militant accused of ordering the killing of an Israeli minister, in a move Israel called a sign that Palestinian democracy was badly flawed.

Palestinian poll officials said on Monday they signed up Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, because they were trying to reach all eligible voters and he had not been convicted by a Palestinian court.

But a senior Israeli official called the registration of Saadat "a mark of how corrupt this system is."

"A society that is governed by terrorists and a society that caters to terrorists will of course seek the support of terrorists even if they are behind bars," the official said.

Saadat, accused of ordering the killing of far-right Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi, was jailed in Palestinian-run Jericho in 2002 under a U.S.-brokered deal that ended a siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters.

Palestinians began registration early this month for as yet unscheduled general elections in a drive seen as the first concrete step to meet long-standing international and domestic demands for reforms.

Palestinian election officials, already angry at Israel for closing poll centers in East Jerusalem, said the Jewish state had no right to say who should vote in the elections.

"We are willing to register any eligible Palestinian voter," Ammar Dwaik, a senior official of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, told Reuters.

He said the election commission had registered a handful of Palestinian detainees last week, also including Fuad al-Shobaki. A senior financial aide to Arafat, Shobaki was jailed for alleged involvement in the smuggling of weapons to Gaza in a ship seized by Israeli commandos in 2002.

Polls are open to Palestinians older than 17 and not convicted of a serious crime in Palestinian court. Neither Saadat nor Shobaki were ever tried.

The election commission said more than 300,000 Palestinians, or nearly 19 percent of estimated potential voters, had registered.

"A society that is governed by terrorists and a society that caters to terrorists will of course seek the support of terrorists even if they are behind bars,"

bump

To: SJackson; Yehuda; Nachum; Paved Paradise; Thinkin' Gal; adam_az; Alouette; IFly4Him; Salem; ...

2 posted on 09/20/2004 3:42:38 PM PDT by yonif ("So perish all Thine enemies, O the Lord" - Judges 5:31)

To: 1bigdictator; 1st-P-In-The-Pod; 2sheep; 7.62 x 51mm; A Jovial Cad; a_witness; adam_az; af_vet_rr; ..

Polls are open to Palestinians older than 17 and not convicted of a serious crime in Palestinian court.

Mass murder of Jews is not a crime in Palestine.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

3 posted on 09/20/2004 3:59:18 PM PDT by Alouette (Professionals built the Titanic...amateurs built the Ark)

If a vote actually meant something in "Palestine" I'd be a lot more disgusted.

<< Mass murder of Jews is not a crime [When perpetrated by Arabs] in [Arab-occupied Gaza, Judea and Sumaria] >>

Nor, least we fail to see the woods for the trees, is their mass murder of whoever is unpopular this week.

Anywhere on Earth.

5 posted on 09/20/2004 6:20:14 PM PDT by Brian Allen (I am, thnk God, a hyphenated American: An AMERICAN-American - AND a Dollar-a-Day FReeper! 2XBlessed!)

MY GOD It is Mafia society Yonif

Instead of Uncle Jr Soprano you got Arafat running the show

6 posted on 09/20/2004 8:02:29 PM PDT by SevenofNine ("Not everybody , in it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"=Det Lennie Briscoe)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.