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America in the Middle East

Bush ?wants? PA elections on schedule

Tells Israel to allow Jerusalem Arabs to vote in the capital


By Stan Goodenough
January 04, 2006

US President George W. Bush appeared determined Wednesday to try and ensure that Palestinian Authority elections take place as scheduled on January 25 even if, for this to happen, the ?Palestinians? who live in Jerusalem have to cast their vote in the city.

A White House official quoted in the Israeli daily Ha?aretz.said Bush ?wants Palestinian elections to go forward as scheduled.?

Israel should not forbid voting in Jerusalem, the official said. ?Arrangements have been made in the past to ensure that those persons can vote, and we believe some arrangements should be possible at this time.?

The statement came hours after Israeli police detained at least eight candidates for the Palestinian Legislative Council who had defiantly chosen to launch their campaigns in Jerusalem.

The would be representatives had gathered with some of their followers near the Old City?s Damascus Gate and were detained after refusing police orders to disperse.

The United States government refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.

Bush, therefore, will not acknowledge that by allowing Palestinian Arabs to vote for what he sees as the forerunner of a government for the State of Palestine, Israel will be compromising its sovereignty over the city.

The American leader, who has repeatedly expressed his ?personal? commitment to overseeing the creation of Palestine on Israel?s biblical homeland, has also rejected the argument that instead of helping to bring peace nearer, the PA elections will actually increase the threat confronting Israel.

According to polls conducted among the Palestinian Arabs, the majority see the establishment of their first-ever homeland as a major step on the road to ?reclaiming? all the land on which the State of Israel was established in 1948.

On its 38 th anniversary the Fatah wing of the PLO terrorist organization the world has long chosen to recognize as ?the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people [sic]? stated on its website:

?A legitimate Palestinian entity forms the most important weapon that Arabs have against Israel.?

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