Annan urges Palestinians to vote in upcoming elections
Palestine-Israel-UN, Politics, 1/21/2006

Looking to next week's Palestinian legislative elections, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged all those eligible to participate and voiced hope that this milestone will set the stage for peace and Statehood.

"You deserve a free, fair and peaceful election," Annan said in a message to the Palestinian people released in New York. "Your electoral commission is doing outstanding work under difficult circumstances."

He stressed that action at the ballot box will help set the course for the future, encouraged all to vote on 25 January and pledged that the UN "will remain steadfastly committed to helping you to achieve a state of your own."

Noting that the international community is working with the Palestinian Authority to help it to ensure law and order, he stressed the importance of everyone taking part in the polling. "We believe that whether you live in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, you must be able to exercise your democratic rights," he said.

The election will mark "an important milestone" in the long and difficult history of the Palestinian people. "I hope it will set you on the path to a more peaceful future, in which you at last have your own State and can live at peace with all your neighbors," he said.

The UN, he said, is determined to help the Palestinian people to peacefully achieve an end to the occupation, and a viable, contiguous, democratic State of Palestine, living at peace with a secure Israel.

"To achieve that goal, the Palestinian Authority must pursue the path of reform and peace," he said, stressing that the PA must establish its monopoly on the use of force.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinians accuse Israelis of carrying out mass killing   (1/19/2006)
  Israel bans Hamas from Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem   (1/17/2006)
  American warning against Hamas participation in Palestinian legislative elections   (1/17/2006)
  Palestinian group promotes their cause using dance   (12/2/2005)
  UN panel on Palestinian Rights marks 30th anniversary but sees failure of peace efforts   (11/11/2005)

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