.svg)
Sunday, November 14, 2004
RAMALLAH — Acting presidentRawhi Fattuh has announced today thatPalestinian elections will be held on January 9. Futtuh, head of thePalestinian parliament, was sworn in hours after the death ofYasser Arafat on Thursday, and Palestinian Basic Law dictates that he may only serve up to two months before elections are held.
New leadership could prove to be the key to revitalizing the peace process in theMiddle East, as bothIsrael and theUnited States had refused to work with Arafat.
TheHaaretz had initially reported that former prime ministerMahmoud Abbas was selected by theFatah central committee as their candidate for president, but Abbas has denied this, saying, "the matter is still being discussed." There have also been conflicting reports on whether or not jailed Palestinian leaderMarwan Barghouti will run.
Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in Israel for attacks against Israelis. Nonetheless, he remains a popular figure among Palestinians for his role in the Palestinian uprising, and could potentially win the election if he decided to run.
A win by Barghouti could put Israel in an awkward spot; however an Israeli official said this week that he would not be freed, and a landslide win by Barghouti would signify to them that the Palestinians were not yet ready for peace.
|
 | This page isarchived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to thetalk page along with your corrections, and it will bebrought to the attention of theadministrators. Please note that due to ourarchival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. The text of this article has been released into thepublic domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication. |
| This page isarchived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to thetalk page along with your corrections, and it will bebrought to the attention of theadministrators. Please note that due to ourarchival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. The text of this article has been released into thepublic domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication. |
