By Ryan Jones
Nov 07, 2005
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Monday reiterated that Israel will not disrupt upcoming ?Palestinian? parliamentary elections, but that it will withhold all assistance if Hamas is allowed to participate, which could have the same effect.
The ?Palestinians? insist that in order to conduct open and free elections, Israel must remove all anti-terror travel restrictions in Judea and Samaria, and permit candidates to move between those areas and the Gaza Strip.
If Hamas is one of the party's vying for seats in the legislature, however, the Palestinian Authority can forget about such cooperation, Sharon told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Furthermore, Sharon's media advisor, Asi Shriv, threatened in a statement to Ynet that any Hamas member campaigning in the open will be risking his life.
At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom stated Israel will not alter its position on Hamas because of the poll, suggesting the group's members will still be targeted even after they attain the label of ?elected official.?
?There will be no easing of conditions which will allow terrorist organizations to cynically exploit the election process,? Shalom said.
Sharon told the cabinet it is clear there is ?no connection between elections in the Palestinian Authority and democracy.?
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni noted that in Europe armed terrorist organizations are banned from participating in elections. The same is true in the United States and other democratic nations.
However, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of a totalitarian regime, has on several occasions taken it upon himself to lecture the West on the virtues of democracy.
According to Abbas, banning Hamas or any other terror group from seeking public office would mean that true democracy was not being practiced.
?Democracy would be meaningless once we start banning any faction from taking part in the democratic process,? he told The Jerusalem Post last week.
?We have resisted attempts to prevent Hamas from participating in the elections and we scored success in this regard during our talks with US President George Bush.?