POLITICS: Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Roadblocks Will Hamper Voting, page 1

According to some officials, Israeli roadblooks will hamper tomorrow's elections. Saeb Erekat called Ariel Sharon today trying to get them to leave the roadblocks until after the election. There are roadblocks and checkpoints at every entrance to every refugee camp and town. There will be 1.8 million voters trying to get to polls.

www.bloomberg.com
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Palestinians seeking to vote tomorrow for a successor to Yasser Arafat as president will be hampered by Israeli roadblocks through the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian Authority's Minister of Negotiations Saeb Erekat said he called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office today to press the government to enable Palestinians to get to polling stations by abandoning military roadblocks.

``Right now there are roadblocks and checkpoints in the entrance of every refugee camp and town,'' Erekat said in a phone interview. ``We urge them to facilitate the election process, to remove the roadblocks. People need to move in order to get to the polling stations.''

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Israel and US fear there will be violence on election day. Israel has no intentions of removing any of the main roadblocks and Palestinians plan on resuming operations after the election.

Will this election lead to more violence in the area? Will the successor to Yasser Arafat as president have much of a chance for peace?

Related News Links:
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electronicintifada.net
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[edit on 9-1-2005 by Banshee]