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Exit Polls: Abbas Wins Palestinian Vote
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Mahmoud Abbas won at least 66 percent of the vote in the Palestinian presidential election Sunday, according to two exit polls.
Such a margin of victory would give Abbas a clear mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and reform the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority.
"We, the Palestinians, are drawing our future with our own hands. We will be the symbol of democracy and freedom," said Aya Abdel Kader, 45, a lawyer voting at a Gaza City school.
Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, has promised to reform the Palestinian Authority, overhaul the unwieldy Palestinian security services and quickly resume negotiations with Israel, stalled for four years.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects to meet with Abbas soon, his aides said. Israeli officials said that in a gesture to Abbas, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, provided Abbas stop militants from firing rockets at Israeli towns.
"I think this vote shows a change in the Palestinian street" moving away from support of violence, said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin.
"We certainly welcome this and hope that from this mandate Abu Mazen will lead the Palestinian people on the path of reconciliation," he added.
The Palestinian election came a day before Israel's parliament was to approve a new, more moderate coalition, seen as a boost for a planned Gaza withdrawal. In the new alliance, Sharon will govern side-by-side with elder statesman Shimon Peres, leader of the moderate Labor Party, and an architect of interim peace deals with the Palestinians. Sharon has talked of restarting the long-stalled "road map" peace plan and coordinating his Gaza plan with Abbas.
The Israeli army eased travel restrictions for the vote, witnessed by hundreds of foreign observers, including former President Jimmy Carter and former French Premier Michel Rocard.
Many Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza complained they could not vote for the person who would represent them in peace talks. The refugee issue has been a key sticking point in past peace talks, with Palestinians demanding they be allowed to return to the homes inside Israel that they fled or were driven from during the 1948 Middle East War.
Israel says it will not allow them to return, frightened their numbers would overwhelm the country and damage its Jewish character.
"How can they ignore our right to pick our leader?" asked Haitham Abul-Saad, 30, in the Baqaa camp, 17 miles northwest of the Jordanian capital Amman.
But eligible voters cast their ballots with great hope. "The election is our weapon to change our lives," said Souad Radwan, a 46-year-old teacher in Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp, whose house was demolished during a recent Israeli raid into the camp. "We are sick of the occupation and this troubled life."
Hallelujah
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Mahmoud Abbas won at least 66 percent of the vote in the Palestinian presidential election Sunday, according to two exit polls.
Such a margin of victory would give Abbas a clear mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and reform the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority.
"We, the Palestinians, are drawing our future with our own hands. We will be the symbol of democracy and freedom," said Aya Abdel Kader, 45, a lawyer voting at a Gaza City school.
Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, has promised to reform the Palestinian Authority, overhaul the unwieldy Palestinian security services and quickly resume negotiations with Israel, stalled for four years.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects to meet with Abbas soon, his aides said. Israeli officials said that in a gesture to Abbas, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, provided Abbas stop militants from firing rockets at Israeli towns.
"I think this vote shows a change in the Palestinian street" moving away from support of violence, said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin.
"We certainly welcome this and hope that from this mandate Abu Mazen will lead the Palestinian people on the path of reconciliation," he added.
The Palestinian election came a day before Israel's parliament was to approve a new, more moderate coalition, seen as a boost for a planned Gaza withdrawal. In the new alliance, Sharon will govern side-by-side with elder statesman Shimon Peres, leader of the moderate Labor Party, and an architect of interim peace deals with the Palestinians. Sharon has talked of restarting the long-stalled "road map" peace plan and coordinating his Gaza plan with Abbas.
The Israeli army eased travel restrictions for the vote, witnessed by hundreds of foreign observers, including former President Jimmy Carter and former French Premier Michel Rocard.
Many Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza complained they could not vote for the person who would represent them in peace talks. The refugee issue has been a key sticking point in past peace talks, with Palestinians demanding they be allowed to return to the homes inside Israel that they fled or were driven from during the 1948 Middle East War.
Israel says it will not allow them to return, frightened their numbers would overwhelm the country and damage its Jewish character.
"How can they ignore our right to pick our leader?" asked Haitham Abul-Saad, 30, in the Baqaa camp, 17 miles northwest of the Jordanian capital Amman.
But eligible voters cast their ballots with great hope. "The election is our weapon to change our lives," said Souad Radwan, a 46-year-old teacher in Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp, whose house was demolished during a recent Israeli raid into the camp. "We are sick of the occupation and this troubled life."
Hallelujah