Carter urged Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians before the elections.

By Atef Daghlas, IOL Correspondent

NABLUS, January 7 (IslamOnline.net) – Over 22,000 monitors, including some 800 Arabs and foreigners are to observe the January 9 Palestinian presidential elections, reflecting the keenness of the Palestinian Authority on assuring the world on the fairness of the poll, according to PA officials.

High-profile figures such as former US president Jimmy Carter, former presidential candidate John Kerry and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, will be among the monitors.

Israel, however, kept on casting heavy doubts on the possibility of living up to its declared pledges to help smooth the polls. Occupation forces detained leading Palestinian candidate presidential Mustafa El-Barghuti during his campaign, raising fears such restrictions could overshadow the polls.

The number of poll monitors, which hit more than 22,394 until January 4, is expected to further increase in the coming two days, said Rami El-Hamdullah, the Secretary General of the Central Election Commission.

He added the some 800 monitors from various Arab and foreign countries are to arrive for keeping an eye on the integrity of the vote.

“The presence of international monitors attests to the integrity of the coming elections,” El-HHHamdullah said.

The monitors -- hailing from 66 countries across the world -- are to oversee the polls in 26 constituencies, where 1.8 million Palestinians are to cast ballots in 1,072 polling stations.

Countries far afield as India, Niger, Afghanistan, Brazil have sent monitors to the Palestinian occupied territories.

The missions are to observe the entire election process, including the legal framework and its implementation, the election administration's work, campaign activities, the media's conduct, voting, ballot counting and tabulation, as well as the general environment in which the elections are being held, they said.

“Transparency”

Barghuti was arrested by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem Friday. (Reuters)

Palestinian officials stress that they seek full transparency in the election process, citing the large number of foreign monitors.

“We want to show the world that we give unfettered freedom to all seven candidates vying for the post, and confidence to Palestinians entitled to vote,” said Abbas Zaki, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

El-Hamdullah said other steps would be taken to guarantee the integrity of elections, including the use of indelible ink and reinforcing security measures around polling stations for no violations.

Israeli Restrictions

Palestinian international law expert and professor at An-Najah university, Ahmed Al-Khalidy, believes the engagement of foreign monitors will force Israel to alleviate military restrictions on Palestinian voters, over fear of embarrassment before the world public opinion.

Carter, who arrived Thursday, January 6, urged Israel to pull its troops out of Palestinian cities to ease the electoral process in the occupied territories.

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate who brokered an Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in 1979, the former American leader was quoted by Reuters as saying after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that he hoped that Israeli-Palestinian cooperation for the election would make the sides able to “find some common ground on which a peace process can be concluded.”

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate expected to win the election to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, had sought an Israeli pullout from populated areas so that Palestinians would not be prevented from casting ballots Sunday, January 9.

Israeli tanks and armored vehicles rolled into southern Gaza Strip in a fresh massive sweep Thursday, December 30, despite the calls.

Free Movement

The 260-member mission of European Union observers has set a number of conditions for the integrity of elections, including free movement of voters and candidates.

The mission also called for avoiding violence of threats in an effort to ensure equal opportunity to all candidates vying to replace the late Arafat.

Led by former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, the observers include European members of Parliament. They will be deployed as of Friday, January 7, in all voting districts.

Rocard had earlier expressed how hard it would be to vote in a free election under occupation.

Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, detained Al-Barghuti in the Old City of Eastern Jerusalem on his way to Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem .

“You are arresting a presidential candidate who has a permit to be in (occupied) East Jerusalem ," Barghuti said, as he was being dragged into a white van by two Israeli security men in civilian clothes.

On December 8, he was beaten by Israeli occupation forces during his campaign trip at a West Bank checkpoint.

According to opinion polls, the independent Barghuti is the main challenger to PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas.

Israeli police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby claimed that Barghuti is not allowed to go to Al-Aqsa and “he knows it. The Al-Aqsa mosque is a place to pray and not for propaganda”.

The monitors expect to issue their preliminary findings the day after the vote.