Great turnout for the Palestinian elections

Despite the obstacles placed by Israel in Jerusalem, the voting processes in the West Bank and Gaza has proceeded smoothly and the ballot centers witnessed intensive turnout despite the fact that both the Islamic ( Hamas) and Islamic Jihad movements boycotted it.

The leading figure in Hamas, Sami Abu Zihdi, denied that the movement had called on the Palestinian people to boycott the elections. He said that the boycott decision relates only to Hamas members on the ground of its rejections to the Oslo agreement terms of reference.

On the other hand, several Palestinian officials in Ramullah stressed that Israel has not lifted the checkpoints, nor made easing measures to enable voters to carry out their duty to choose a president for the Palestinian authority.

The presidential advisor for the Palestine national security Jibril al-Rajjoub said that the Israelis have not so far given any facilities, noting that the checkpoints were still there, considering that the Palestinian side had no cooperation from the Israeli side to facilitate the election process.