Voting in the Palestinian elections extended because of occupation checkpoints

News reports in Ramullah said that the central committee of the Palestinian elections decided to extend the period of the voting for two hours ( until hour 19:00 GMT) because of the obstacles the voters are facing at the Israeli checkpoints.

One of the spokesman for the committee, Baha al-Bakri, complained in a press conference in Ramullah about the Israeli placed obstacles and said that the occupation forces gave no facilities to this end.

He explained that one of the reasons behind the extension is that Israel deceived in implementing the agreement which was finalized earlier in the day in Jerusalem at the mediation of the former US President Jimmy Carter for the voters of Jerusalem.

In a statement Carter criticized the pursued Israeli measures in Jerusalem. He said that the voting process is facing "a grave problem" because of Israel's banning of the Palestinian employees from supervising the voting operation so as to be confined to Israeli employees working in the post office centers.

Carter who supervised the election together with other 450 international observers indicated that he notified the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon about these violations.

However, voting in Jerusalem takes a special significance as both the Palestinian authority and Israel claim sovereignty for the city. Israel had occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967.