Palestinians decide amid slogans, flags and posters

MIDDLE EAST: Some voters hoped for a more stable and certain future for their people, reports Michael Jansen

Palestinians began gathering at polling stations soon after dawn yesterday and cast their last ballots in the dark. Voting was sluggish in the morning but picked up in the late afternoon.

Dyala Husseini, a citizen of Jerusalem, travelled to a school in al-Ram, a West Bank suburb of the holy city. She showed her blue-covered Jerusalem identity card to the registration official, a strip of violet indelible ink was painted on her right thumb, she was given a serially numbered ballot, voted behind a cardboard screen, and dropped her vote into the empty semi-transparent box at the centre of the room as an Italian observer snapped her photo. Ms Husseini, a human rights activist, was voting for the second time in her life.

She cast her vote, also in al-Ram, in the Palestinians' first national election in 1996. "I hope we have good results on the ground from this election," she remarked. Palestinians expect a resumption of talks with Israel once the new president, expected to be Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is installed. Talks have been suspended since 2001 when Israel claimed that the late president, Yasser Arafat, was an obstacle to peace.

Few voters turned up at the main post office on Salaheddin Street, the chief thoroughfare in East Jerusalem. A woman who voted but declined to give her name said, "Although we are uncertain of our future, I refuse to allow Israel to deprive me of my right to vote."

Standing on the steps, the former US president Jimmy Carter announced to the journalists, observers and Palestinian onlookers, "All Israel's checkpoints are open." But al-Ram checkpoint, which I had just driven through, was operating and with a much heavier Israeli army presence than usual.

Traffic was light on the highway north to Nablus, the second largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. Israel's main checkpoints remained in place. In spite of the fact that Israeli troops had entered and remained until three in the morning in the sprawling Balata refugee camp, a hotbed of militancy, the election was proceeding smoothly. By late morning 25 per cent had voted. In the street outside the three schools visited by The Irish Times there were more spectators than voters. Fatah supporters were handing out black-and-white checked scarves, the symbol of Arafat, with whom Abu Mazen is closely identified. Posted on the doors to polling stations were signs prohibiting guns and mobile phones, inside were polite officials in white caps. No foreign monitors had yet turned up.

Balata has a reputation as a dangerous place. As we drove from one polling station to the next, we passed a car filled with wanted members of al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, which endorsed Abu Mazen. The bearded preacher of a local mosque, Imam Abu Shuaib, said that many people would not vote. "They don't believe it will make any difference." He said 30 per cent of camp residents back Fatah and the rest are split amongst the Popular Front, Communists, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

At a school in central Nablus, the percentage of participation was also 25 per cent at noon, but ranks of taxis and mini-buses hired for the event by Abu Mazen's campaign suggested that voters needing transport might appear later in the day. In the hills west of Nablus, villages isolated by Israel's vast wall complex basked in the warm afternoon sun. At Azoun, the tomato and cucumber capital of the area, voting was just beginning at the splendid stone-built school. The wall in the courtyard sported maxims in English and Arabic, indicating the people of this village are of an optimistic disposition. On the left hand side was painted, "All things are possible," and on the right, "Actions speak louder than words."

As we drove along the road to Deir Ballout, a wealthy market garden village, cars flying Abu Mazen's green-and-white campaign flags flashed past. At the school we learnt that 75 per cent of those eligible had voted at two of the three polling stations. A young farmer in jeans covered in earth presented his identity card and a woman wearing a traditional embroidered dress in blue velvet cast her ballot. An official observed, "I did not expect to see so many people vote in this village." We exited the West Bank through a strategic Israeli checkpoint below Deir Ballut and drew up behind a mini-bus bedecked with the blue-and-white banner of Israel and the orange flags of settlers opposed to any withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.