Abbas faces tough decision on Palestinian elections The pressure is intensifying for President Mahmoud Abbas to postpone the elections, which are becoming a dangerous game for the Israelis and other concerned parties.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks at the United Nations Security Council, New York, Feb. 11, 2020.
April 20, 2021
Time is quickly running out on the possibility of avoiding the unpredictable results of the upcoming Palestinian elections. Pressure is mounting on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel or postpone a set of elections legislative on May 22, presidential on July 31 and Palestinian National Council on Aug. 31 that he had decreed on Jan. 13.
The Israelis are not interested in elections that will remind their own people and the world that there are Palestinians on the other side of the nearly erased Green Line. The United States under President Joe Biden has avoided making any decision on the Middle East giving climate chan
JERUSALEM (AP) â A dispute over voting in east Jerusalem is threatening to cancel or delay the first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years.
While President Mahmoud Abbas is vowing to hold the vote, Israeli restrictions on Palestinian voters in east Jerusalem could give him a pretext for calling off an election that appears increasingly likely to threaten his hold on power.
The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and Abbas has said its residents cannot be excluded from parliamentary elections planned for May 22.
But the Palestinian Authority may need Israel s permission for some 6,000 residents of the city to cast ballots. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its unified capital and bars the PA from operating in the city. It has yet to say whether it will allow voting in east Jerusalem but has signaled it will not agree to do so.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees announces the launch of a digitalized education platform to prevent 540,000 students being left without schooling due to coronavirus or conflict.
The platform, in Arabic and English, is to be used by Palestinian students in Jordan, war-torn Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza.
It is designed to make remote learning an interactive experience, offering students quizzes and games, with each lesson accompanied by videos.
The new “platform… is crucial for the continuation of learning in times of crisis, including the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and associated school closures,” says Moritz Bilagher, the agency’s acting director of education.
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The majority of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem can vote in the first Palestinian legislative elections in 15 years set for next month, the electoral commission announces.
However, several thousand may yet still be excluded, amid ongoing concerns that the landmark vote might not get off the ground at all.
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are set to vote in the legislative polls on May 22, ahead of a planned presidential vote in July.
Women wear face mask as they waiting at the registration station of the Central Elections Commission to register their names to the electoral roll, at Gaza City, February 10, 2021. (Adel Hana/AP)
EXPLAINER: Jerusalem dispute could derail Palestinian vote washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.