WE BELIEVE IN liCHALVI
A Vote For Hope
Happened In Ramallah
KENNETH STEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
short time before polling
station #36 in Ramallah
closed on Saturday, Jan.
20, an illiterate Palestin-
ian woman in her 70s arrived.
She appeared, as the law al-
lowed, with her grandson to read
the candidate list for her. In a
postage-stamp size, unheated,
smoke-filled classroom on the sec-
ond floor of the Ramallah Islam-
ic school, 15 miles north of
Jerusalem, a Palestinian election
commission monitor watched to
insure that her choices were ap-
propriately marked.
It was the 21st and last polling
station I had visited during the
day, which began 13 hours earli-
er. There were another 700 in-
ternational election monitors
spread out over the West Bank,
east Jerusalem and the Gaza
Strip to monitor the activity in
the 1696 polling stations set up
for the Palestinians to elect a
president/chairman and an 88
member self-governing council.
Before the day was over, 493
of 578 registered voters at this
polling site cast their ballots.
The 70 percent turnout was
representative of the consider-
able interest and participation
elsewhere. There were more than
650 candidates for the 88 council
seats, according to voter regis-
tration in 16 constituencies.
In a firm but polite tone, Ale-
sandre, a secondary school math
teacher trained as the poll sta-
tion manager, explained to the
woman that on the red presi-
dential/chairman ballot an "x"
was required for one of the two
candidates, while on the white
ballot as many as seven choices
could be made for the Palestin-
ian self- governing council.
Simultaneously, three of the
other election officials checked
the woman's identity and regis-
tration cards against three sepa-
rate, but identical,
computer-generated voter elec-
tion lists. Names, birthdates, and
ID numbers were meticulously
reviewed to be sure no one voted
twice.
When the elderly woman gave
her ballots sealed in red and
white envelopes to her grandson
for deposit in padlocked boxes, he
hesitated and insisted that his
grandmother put the envelopes
in the boxes herself. As she slid
the ballots in the respective con-
tainers, her head was lowered.
With her vote cast, she let out a
Dr. Kenneth Stein is a professor of
Middle Eastern History and
Political Science at Emory
University.
perceptible sigh and raised her
eyes as a small smile radiated
embarrassingly across her face.
For the next six hours, the bal-
lots were meticulously counted.
Protocols reflecting the election
results were filled out in tripli-
cate. The tabulation at the cen-
tral election office was closely
observed.
A festive but serious atmos-
phere prevailed in the polling sta-
tions I visited in villages, refugee
camps, semi-urban areas, and
Christian and Moslem wards.
Cordiality prevailed between vot-
ers and election officials — be-
tween the Palestinian police who
kept order and the voters who
waited patiently in line. This was
true in most of the polling sta-
tions in the West Bank.
In Jerusalem and in the Gaza
Strip, voting was more boister-
ous and politically charged. East
Jerusalem Arabs were intimi-
dated by pre-election rumors that
they would lose their identity
cards if they voted; there were,
by prior mutual PLO-Israeli
agreement, only five voting sta-
tions set up in East Jerusalem
post offices. So the bulk of eligi-
ble voters had to cast ballots in
distant villages surrounding
Jerusalem.
Further limiting voter turnout
in Jerusalem was the heavy pres-
ence of Israeli security officials,
stationed to deter the possibility
of violence between Arabs and
Jewish settlers. And for some in-
explicable reason, Israeli officials
videotaped Arab voters as they
cast their ballots.
But the most egregious exam-
ples of voter irregularity and in-
timidation took place in the Gaza
Strip where Yasser Arafat's se-
curity forces were omnipresent.
In some of the refugee camps, vot-
er manipulation was evident and
voter intimidation was profound,
as Palestinian police officials
"helped" voters choose their can-
didates. Whether these security
officials or poll watchers associ-
ated with Mr. Arafat's ruling au-
thority acted on orders from
superiors, or were merely over-
zealous is not clear.
No one doubted that Mr.
Arafat would win the presiden-
tial election in a landslide. No ob-
server or political analyst
attributed the lower voter
turnout in Jerusalem or else-
where to a boycott by any of the
Palestinian groups who openly
opposed the elections held under
Israeli supervision. The interna-
tional observers who grew up
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