The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has expressed its grave concern over the Israeli measures obstructing the Palestinian legislative elections in Jerusalem, including the lack of approval so far of the elections to be held in the city.
In a press release today, the Geneva-based European Rights Monitor said that the Israeli authorities have taken effective measures in recent days that reflect clear intentions to impede the electoral process and thwart the participation of residents and election candidates in Jerusalem in the electoral process that has been awaited for more than a decade.
According to the follow-up of the Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli forces delivered on Tuesday 6 April 2021 summon notices to the candidates Nasser Muhammad Musa Qas and Ghada Muhammad Sami Abu Rabee ', to go to the Israeli intelligence at the Al-Maskobiyya investigation center.
The Israeli occupation forces arrested Adel Abu Zneid, director of the Fatah district office in Jerusalem, and director of the Ambassador Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah Sami Abu Dayya, and summoned others on the background of election-related activities.
The Euro-Med Monitor indicated that this development came after the occupation prevented a consultative meeting about the elections, organized by civil society institutions in Jerusalem, as it imposed a security cordon around the place and prevented entry to the hotel.
It pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities have not yet allowed the Palestinians in East Jerusalem to launch any official or popular activity regarding the elections, despite the approaching date of the start of the election campaigning on April 30, until the polling date on May 22.
He pointed out that the entire election process is threatened if the occupation refuses to allow it to take place in East Jerusalem, especially in light of the official Palestinian tendencies not to complete the process without the participation of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
He stressed that the Palestinians in East Jerusalem enjoy the same legal status as the Palestinians in the rest of the West Bank and thus share with them the right to self-determination.
"The Israeli measures aimed at disrupting the Palestinian legislative elections in the city of Jerusalem fall within the policy of abolishing the Palestinian presence in the city and imposing Israeli sovereignty over it, in contravention of the rules of international laws and relevant United Nations resolutions," said Anas Jarjawi, the operations officer at the Euro-Med Monitor.
"In the past two years only, Israel has held 4 Knesset elections, while it is now trying to prevent or disrupt the Palestinians from engaging in the democratic process they have been waiting for more than a decade," Jarjawi added.
The Euro-Med Monitor stated that the European Union has contributed over the past years in supporting and financing the work of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission in preparation for holding comprehensive, credible, and transparent elections.
It stressed the need for the Federation to intervene to pressure the occupation to allow elections to take place in Jerusalem and to stop any procedure that would lead to their disruption or cancellation.
It called on the international community to exert all possible pressure on the occupation to ensure that Palestinian legislative elections are held in all occupied territories, and to protect the right of Palestinians to political participation and self-determination without any restrictions or obstacles.
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