Major events before Palestinian election

cctv.com 01-11-2005 16:53

The election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will be held on Jan. 9.Under the Palestinian law, all the candidates finished their campaigns on Friday, two days ahead of the voting.

Following are the major events before the election:

2004:

Nov. 11 -- PNA Chairman Yasser Arafat died in a French hospitalin Paris and Mahmoud Abbas became chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Nov. 14 -- Abbas escaped unharmed from the fire by a group of Palestinian militants when he was in Gaza City to express condolences to late Arafat. Interim PNA Chairman Rawhi Fattouh announced holding the election for the PNA chairmanship on Jan. 9.

Nov. 17 -- Abbas urged armed groups to stop attacks and guarantee the smoothness of the election.

Nov. 21 -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited the Middle East to push forward the peace process. The Israeli government said it will guarantee a smooth Palestinian election.

Nov. 22 -- PLO's mainstream Fatah movement nominated Abbas as its candidate to run for the Jan. 9 election.

Nov. 25 -- Marwan Barghouti, Fatah's famed leader of the young generation, announced in an Israeli jail to run for the PNA chairmanship.

Nov. 28 -- Both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas voiced willingness to hold talks.

Dec. 1 -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said it will hamper the election.

Dec. 9 -- The disengagement plan put forward by Sharon won a majority support from the Israeli parliament.

Dec. 12 -- Barghouti declared he will not run in the Palestinian election as an independent candidate. Abbas became themost hopeful to win the election among the seven candidates. Hamasmilitants killed five Israeli soldiers, intensifying the conflictsbetween Palestinians and Israelis.

Dec. 18 -- The Israeli Defense Forces ended its operation in the Palestinian town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, in which 11Palestinians were killed.

Dec. 23 -- Hamas announced participation in Palestine's first municipal elections since 1976.

Dec. 25 -- Abbas announced the beginning of his campaign for the election for PNA chairmanship.

Dec. 30 -- Abbas visited the northern West Bank town of Jenin and met with al Aqsa Brigade commander in northern West Bank, Zakariya al-Zubeidi, during which, Abbas said the Palestinians will continue the path of late leader Arafat and will not give up the Palestinians' rights.

2005:

Jan. 4 -- Abbas described Israel as "the Zionist enemy" in response to the killing of eight Palestinians by Israeli tank shells in the northern Gaza Strip.

Jan. 5 -- Palestinian militants fired missiles to the Israeli territory in retaliation for Israeli military operations.

Jan. 6 -- While campaigning in the West Bank city of Nablus, Abbas said Sharon is a partner for peace negotiations and that he was ready to hold talks with Israel based on the roadmap plan for peace in the Middle East right after the election.

Jan. 7 -- All the candidates ended their campaigns.

Editor:Hu Hang  Source:Xinhua News Agency