Palestinian Elections January 2005

Copyright Stewart Innes 2005 Until Released

A Palestinian woman stands in front of a wall plastered with posters of deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and campaign posters for presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas has been counting on his close association with Arafat to win popular support among Palestinian voters.

A Palestinian man sits on concrete blocks at the Qalandia checkpoint on the road from Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Ramallah. The block, which are plastered with campaign posters for the Palestinian elections, will eventually form part of the controversial wall being built by Israel around the West Bank.

A street vendor selling lottery tickets in front of a wall covered with campaign posters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian Bedouin woman walks past massive campaign posters on building tops in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian kids take in the afternoon sun in the shadow of a poster that underlines the close relation ship between deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas.

Massive campaign poster for Palestinian Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Mahmoud Abbas dominates the centre of Ramalla.

The afternoon sun gives an eerie glow to an Israeli military  watch tower and the controversial wall being built by Israel around the West Bank. The tower is at the Qalandia crossing point on the road from Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

A Palestinian man reading the Arabic language newspaper “al Quds” (Jerusalem) at the Qalandia checkpoint on the road from Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Ramallah.  The headline says “Palestine Decides”, in reference to the Palestinian presidential elections of January 9.

EX US PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER (start)

Ex US President Jimmy Carter talking to the press outside the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem on January 9,  the morning of the Palestinian Presidential elections. President Carter is in Jerusalem as mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians and as an independent observer of the elections.

Ex US President Jimmy Carter talking to the press outside the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem on January 9,  the morning of the Palestinian Presidential elections. Visible on his thumb is a sample of  the indelible ink used to identify those who have voted.

EX US PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER (end)

An EEC election observer stands in the nearly empty Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem some two hours after the station was opened. A large number of local residents found that their names were not on the electoral list at the East Jerusalem polling station.

A Palestinian man reads the newspaper outside the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem.

A Palestinian voter checks his papers before presenting them at the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem.

An irate fifty year resident of East Jerusalem (right) gestures to another  Palestinian as he complains that his name is not on the electoral list at the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem.

Palestinian voters check with the electoral register to make sure they are eligible to vote at the Salahuddin Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem. Many residents of East Jerusalem found they were not on the list.

Scuffle breaks out between supporters of opposing candidates outside the Salahuddin Post Office Polling Station in East Jerusalem. Apart from a few minor incidents, there was notably little violence during the elections.

Supporters of Palestinian Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin), the favoured candidate to win the Palestinian elections, wait outside the Salahuddin Post Office Polling station in East Jerusalem to encourage voters to support their party leader.

A Palestinian woman carries her baby out of the Salahuddin Post Office Polling Station in East Jerusalem after casting her vote.

An unidentified Moslem cleric outside Salahuddin Post Office Polling Station in East Jerusalem denounces the elections in Palestine as tools of ‘Zionists and foreign powers looking to lay their hands on Arab assets".

A Palestinian and a foreign protester carry a banner reading “Israeli Banana Republic Democracy” over a pile of bananas outside Salahuddin Post Office Polling Station in East Jerusalem.