Israel edges away from Palestinian vote ban

The polls, to take place on January 25 across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are the first legislative elections since 1996 and could radically re-draw the political scene with radical group Hamas to participate for the first time.

Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said Israel would bar those in occupied east Jerusalem from participating in the vote, triggering a furious Palestinian response and speculation that the vote may be delayed.

But following a call from the United States for both sides to resolve the dispute, a senior Israeli official appeared to be backing off the hard line.

A Sharon aide told AFP on Sunday that the administration "will contemplate" the possibility of Palestinians voting at five polling stations in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and has since annexed.

"Israel has no intention of giving Mahmud Abbas an excuse to cancel the election because he fears a victory for Hamas and allow him to accuse us before the international community of being responsible for his decision," he said.

Palestinians in east Jerusalem were allowed to vote both in a Palestinian presidential election last January and in legislative polls in 1996.

Washington has billed the January election as a milestone in Palestinian democratic development and last week expressed confidence the east Jerusalem dispute could be resolved.

"It is an issue that the Palestinians and the Israelis have worked through before," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.

"I would expect that they would work through once again this issue and find a solution that is acceptable to both sides," he added.

Four days later the Israeli government line appeared to have softened.

"Israel's final decision on the Palestinian election in Jerusalem will be taken when Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority definitely confirms that elections will be held on the scheduled date," said the Sharon aide.

Tough competition from the powerful Islamist movement Hamas, gearing up to contest its first Palestinian parliamentary election, could pose a serious threat to the decade-long grip on power enjoyed by Abbas's Fatah party.

The faction has been in disarray over the vote, initially registering two separate lists of candidates, one compiled of the old guard and a second made up of young politicians campaigning for reform, for the vote.

Fatah has since decided on the single list to clamp down on divisions and maximise its chances of success, although Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei has since withdrawn from the race.

The same senior official told AFP that Israel was prepared for possible "collapse" in the Palestinian Authority that could render Abbas incapable of imposing law and order, faced with the political might of Hamas.

"At this point, Mahmud Abbas is so weak in relation to Hamas that he is unable to implement the smallest decision," said the source.