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Downtrodden Arabs Shun Israeli Elections As Clashes Continue
JERUSALEM, Feb 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Clashes erupted in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli troops as Palestinians demonstrators protested against Israeli elections declaring the polling day a "Day of Rage".
Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas at Palestinians who rallied in the streets of Ramallah chanting, "The Intifada [uprising] will continue" and "Sharon is a Butcher."
More than 2,000 protestors rallied in the streets in Ramallah responding to a call by a coalition of Palestinian groups for mass demonstrations to mark the election.
The Likud party candidate, Ariel Sharon, is known for his hostility towards Arabs who recall his role in the massacre of Palestinian civilians during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.
If elected, Sharon has pledged not to hold any peace talks until the Intifada ends.
"Sharon is the last bullet the Israelis have; let them fire it," said Marwan Barghouthi, the head of the West Bank branch of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
On the other hand, Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak, threatened by defeat by Sharon, issued a last appeal to the Arab population in Israel.
Despite opinion polls showing Sharon dominating with a lead of approximately 20 points, Barak said on Tuesday it was never too late to tighten the gap.
"People who were angry at me are now realizing what is the real alternative, and they are coming back in tens of thousands every hour," Barak told reporters before he went to vote near at Kochav Yair in central Israel.
"I can tell once again to the Arab community: Come to vote; it is not too far, too wide a gap to overcome," he said.
"We don't want even to speculate that he [Sharon] might win. We believe that we can win," Barak told an Egyptian television reporter in English.
Surprised by journalists in the streets on Tuesday, Barak answered all their questions in Arabic, but responded in English, apologizing that he had forgotten the Egyptian dialect.
Meanwhile, Israeli Arabs said they would still boycott the elections in protest of official policies of discrimination against them.
"I cannot bring myself to vote for Barak or Sharon. They are both the same. I voted for Barak [in the last election], and he slaughtered us," said Ala Abdel Razeq, 24, a merchant in Nazareth.
Abdel Malek Dahamshe, an Arab Israeli MP, said Labor party officials have contacted him continuously over the past two days to convince Arabs to participate in the elections and to drop their boycott.
"We are rejecting their calls. It is too little. What we need are not a few calls in the last minute, but changes in the government's political policies," he said.
At the Nazareth polling station, a wall was canvassed with posters stating: "Boycott the elections for the respect of our people" and "No to Barak, No to Sharon, Yes to a Just Peace and Equality."
Underneath the signs, photographs of the 13 people killed by Israeli police during demonstartions were posted.
In the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, witnesses said about 50 cars carrying Palestinian flags were driving through Palestinian villages with loudspeakers blaring: "Don't vote for the murderers of our people!"
"It is obviously different this year," said Nazareth polling station official Nader Shukha, 26. The few Arabs at the polling station decided to mark their protest by voting with a blank paper.
"I voted a white vote so people would know that we are here, exercising our rights, but that we do not accept either candidate," said Mubada Jarjoura, a 39-year-old travel agent.
Elsewhere, hundreds of Palestinian refugees demonstrated Tuesday in front of the U.N. building in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, calling both candidates "butchers".
"No to Ehud Barak, the Verdun butcher; no to Ariel Sharon, the Sabra and Shatila butcher," the protestors chanted.
The demonstrators wrote a letter to the representative of the U.N. interim force in Lebanon addressing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, claiming their right of return to their homeland, Palestine, as the U.N. Security Council resolution 194 states.
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