Arafat Cites a Condition for Palestinian Poll

A day after promising elections within six months, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said Friday that voting would not take place until Israel withdrew from the occupied territories.

Asked by reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah when polling would take place, the Palestinian leader responded: “As soon as [the Israelis] finish this occupation from our land.”

His statement came even as Israeli soldiers continued their strikes against West Bank targets.

Aides and advisors Friday sought to downplay suggestions that Arafat was introducing new conditions in order to put off a referendum on his leadership.

“We are looking to run the election within six months,” said Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, adding that the Palestinians were saying Israeli forces should first withdraw to positions held before the current Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

“We don’t see any big difference between the position of various people about when elections will be held,” said Marwan Kanafani, an Arafat advisor. “We have to give the president the benefit of the doubt until he makes himself clear.”

In recent weeks, Arafat has come under intense pressure at home and abroad to hold elections, reform his Palestinian Authority, stamp out corruption, make institutions more democratic and overhaul the government’s judiciary and security forces.

Arafat issued a vague pledge Wednesday to hold elections, leading to calls by Palestinian legislators for balloting to be held within six months. He committed to that timetable Thursday, but he has a history of failing to deliver on reform promises that threaten to undermine his power as sole decision-maker.

Even as the 72-year-old leader appeared to be introducing a new condition, Israeli soldiers were on the offensive in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing one Palestinian and arresting 24 others, including two on Israel’s wanted list.

The army moved into the adjacent Jenin refugee camp--the site of the fiercest fighting during Israel’s recent five-week offensive-- before dawn as part of a sweep for suspected Palestinian militants.

In other violence, a 7-year-old boy was shot to death by Israeli soldiers near Nablus on his way to prayers with his father, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. The army said it would investigate, as several hundred people marched with the boy’s body resting on a makeshift stretcher.

The Israeli military also said Friday that it shot and killed an armed Palestinian in the Gaza Strip after he approached a fence surrounding the Jewish settlement of Dugit and threw grenades at soldiers. The radical Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade later identified the man as a member.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces have shifted their strategy away from large-scale incursions in favor of faster, limited attacks.

“Israel has no intention whatsoever to reoccupy the city of Jenin or the refugee camp,” said Gideon Meir, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding that Friday’s action was a pinpoint attack against suspects who reentered the camp after soldiers pulled out last month.

As the body count mounted, Israel vowed to maintain its tough stance. At the same time, the radical Islamic movement Hamas said it would continue attacks against Israel pending the creation of a Palestinian state.

A key question amid all the election speculation is whether radical Palestinian groups such as Hamas would participate.

Kanafani said most people within the Palestinian Authority want full participation to ensure that the outcome is as representative as possible and that radical groups won’t act as spoilers. But the decision is ultimately up to those organizations, he added.

Khalil Shikaki, a pollster and political analyst, said it’s unlikely that Arafat would garner as much popular support in any upcoming election as he did in 1996, when he won 88% of the vote. Still, Arafat is the only obvious candidate for president and is not expected to face any serious challenger, Shikaki said.