Palestinians are voting today for a successor to Yasser Arafat and looked likely to elect Mr Mahmoud Abbas, who has promised to revive peacemaking with Israel after years of bloodshed.
But while Palestinians cast their ballots, Hamas and other militant Islamic groups urged a boycott of the poll and Israel reasserted that progress towards peace depended on a halt to "terrorism and violence".
Balloting was extended by two hours, until 9 p.m. (7 p.m. Irish time) because some voters were being held up by Israeli army checkpoints, election officials said. But while international monitors reported initial confusion at polling stations in Arab East Jerusalem over voter registration rolls, they said Israel had kept its promise to ease the passage of Palestinians through checkpoints.
"Anecdotal evidence coming in is that (Israeli) restrictions have been quite effectively lifted," said MrLes Campbell, a spokesman for foreign observers led by former US President Mr Jimmy Carter. The voting hours extension came after reports of low turnout in some cities.
Analysts said to build a popular mandate for peacemaking, Abbas needed at least 60 per cent of the vote and a large turnout among the 1.8 million eligible voters - both uncertain because of the boycott by Islamic groups bent on destroying Israel.
As if to underscore the problems facing Abbas if he wins the presidency, Palestinian militants fired at least two rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip. There were no casualties but Mr Abbas, who took over as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation after Arafat died on November 11th, has demanded such strikes stop.
In a possible show of solidarity with Palestinian militants, the Lebanese Hizbollah group attacked an Israeli patrol in a disputed area of the Israel-Lebanon border, killing an Israeli officer. Israel responded with an air strike against suspected Hizbollah positions and artillery fire. United Nations sources in Beirut said a French officer with an international truce monitoring force was killed but it was not immediately clear what killed him. Another officer was wounded.
"The elections are going very well and this proves that the Palestinian people are moving towards democracy. There are obstacles but the determination of the people is stronger," Mr Abbas said after voting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mr Abbas, an architect of interim peace deals with Israel in the early 1990s, was forecast to take 52 to 65 per cent of the vote, more than twice the support commanded by his closest challenger, human rights activist Mr Mustafa Barghouthi.
On the Israeli political front, a new government was to be sworn in on Monday after Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's coalition pacts with veteran peacemaker Mr Shimon Peres's Labour Party and a religious faction were formally handed to parliament today.
With new partners, Mr Sharon will have a parliamentary majority for the first time in six months to press ahead with the planned removal this year of all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank.