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Hamas trounces Fatah in local polls

The Hamas militant group won local elections in the West Bank's largest cities, according to preliminary results released yesterday, dealing a harsh blow to the ruling Fatah party just six weeks ahead of a parliamentary poll.

Hamas swept more than 70 percent of the vote in the West Bank's largest city, Nablus, highlighting the fierce challenge posed by the Islamic movement to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' fractured Fatah party in the Jan. 25 parliamentary election.

A Hamas victory in the parliamentary poll could torpedo efforts to renew the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and damage the Palestinian relationship with the US. Hamas -- sworn to the destruction of Israel and responsible for dozens of suicide bombings -- is on the US list of terrorist organizations.

Hamas' welfare programs -- coupled with its fierce resistance to Israel's occupation -- have won it grass-roots support among Palestinians who are fed up with Fatah's corrupt government and its inability to rein in gang-led lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abbas, meanwhile, is mired in an internal Fatah struggle. His last-minute attempt to unify the ranks failed on Thursday when a group of popular young guard leaders split from Fatah, forming a new party called "Future." The party, led by jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti, further hurts Abbas' chances of winning the parliamentary vote.

Thousands of jubilant Hamas supporters celebrated in the streets of Nablus late on Thursday, where the Islamic movement won 73 percent of the vote, or 13 seats on the 15-member council. The two remaining seats went to a coalition of Fatah and independent candidates.

"The big party will be when we win the elections" for parliament, said Hamas spokesman Yasser Mansour.

In the town of Jenin, Hamas won eight seats, while a coalition between Fatah and the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) garnered just seven. In el-Bireh, a large suburb on the outskirts of Ramallah, Hamas won 72 percent of the vote, grabbing nine seats, to Fatah's four. The PFLP and independents took the last two seats on el-Bireh's 15-member council.

Even in Ramallah, the West Bank's commercial hub and a city with a significant Christian population, Fatah only tied, grabbing six seats in a coalition with other factions. The radical PFLP won another six seats, and Hamas grabbed three. Official results will be announced tomorrow.

Shimshon Arbel, formerly Israel's military governor in Nablus, said he was not surprised by Hamas' victory, because the movement has invested a great deal in building up a strong civil structure that provides free schooling and medical treatment to the Palestinian population. Fatah, meanwhile, has been corrupt and failed to manage the Palestinian Authority, he added.

"The strengthening of Hamas is not a new phenomenon and not a new process," Arbel told Israel's Army Radio.

Hamas victory in the municipal elections was declared hours after Barghouti, 46, announced he was firm in his decision to go it alone. Barghouti -- serving five consecutive life terms in an Israeli prison after being convicted of involvement in fatal attacks on Israelis -- is running on a list along with other well-known names, including security strongmen Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub.

"This is not a matter of a personal decision by Marwan," said Kadoura Fares, another of the leaders who met Barghouti on Thursday. "It's a matter of a majority in the movement."

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at northern Gaza early yesterday, wounding two Palestinians, residents said. The military said the targets of the airstrikes were access routes to areas in northern Gaza where militants launch rockets. At least six rockets landed in Israel on Thursday, one near the coastal city of Ashkelon.
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