Israel blocks Palestinian Central Elections Committee from entering Gaza, east Jerusalem

Israel has allegedly blocked the Palestinian Central Elections Commission from entering east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip to monitor the November 28 elections, a Palestinian Authority official told the PA’s official WAFA news agency on Wednesday, as European Commission Vice President and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas renewed Europe’s commitment to deploying an election observation mission.

Though the CEC has yet to issue an official statement on the alleged block, CEC spokesperson Farid Taamallah confirmed the report to Agence France-Presse and insisted that the elections could still go ahead.

Taamallah has not yet responded to The Jerusalem Post’s request.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas postponed planned elections in 2021 amid a dispute over voting in east Jerusalem. At the time, many of Abbas’s critics accused him of using the dispute as a pretext to postpone the elections and retain power, citing his low levels of support in Palestinian polls.

Experts who have spoken to The Post in recent months, including Prof. Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Misgav Institute, have suggested that Abbas could use a similar justification to postpone the elections.

Speculations over whether the PA elections will be able to happen

Yoni Ben-Menachem, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, has also reported that Hussein Al-Sheikh, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Authority, was pushing Abbas to postpone the elections, using the issue as a justification.

Unlike in 2021, however, the PA has gained international support for Palestinian statehood under the New York Declaration on the condition that it holds democratic elections.

Kallas confirmed she spoke with al-Sheikh on Tuesday, promising that the EU was ready to deploy an Election Observation Mission.

“Palestinians have the right to choose their representatives in elections that are credible, inclusive and transparent,” she wrote on X/Twitter after the call. “After nearly 20 years without a parliamentary vote, these elections would offer a long-overdue opportunity to renew the legitimacy of Palestinian institutions.”

Al-Sheikh also confirmed the call took place, adding that they also discussed the issue of settler violence and humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

He said on Facebook he called “for European support for Palestinian efforts to overcome obstacles that may hinder the conduct of elections and their implementation, ensuring the participation of all our people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in the electoral process.”

With eight candidate lists already submitted, and more expected, Dr. Nabil Kukali, Founder and President of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, said he believed there would “certainly” be “frustration.”

Who will Palestinians hold responsible for delayed elections?

Based on the PCPO’s last poll across the territories, 79.4% of Palestinians want the election to go ahead in November. Still, Kukali predicted that “many Palestinians could understand a delay if it becomes clear that the main reason is the inability to hold inclusive elections in east Jerusalem and Gaza.”

“The broader context is also important. Palestinian-Israeli relations are currently under severe strain, with political and economic cooperation greatly reduced and continuing restrictions in the West Bank,” he continued.

“Under these circumstances, public reaction may depend less on the delay itself and more on whom Palestinians hold responsible for it.”

Based on the current status of relations with Israel, Kukali said he “would not assume” that another delay in elections would weaken support for Abbas, especially “if Palestinians believe that Abbas and the Palestinian leadership remain committed to holding elections throughout the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, and that the principal obstacle comes from Israeli restrictions, the political cost to him could be limited.”

“Some Palestinians may even view a refusal to hold elections without Jerusalem or Gaza as a defense of the principle that national elections should include all Palestinian territories,” he added.