Middle East: Israel's cabinet yesterday approved voting in Arab East Jerusalem in a Palestinian parliamentary election but said it would ban the militant Hamas group from listing its candidates on ballots there.
The government approved the decision unanimously, an official said, after US pressure to lift opposition to voting in East Jerusalem, whose status is at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Palestinians had warned Israel not to take measures that would disrupt or postpone the parliamentary poll on January 25th, in which Hamas is participating for the first time.
Ehud Olmert, interim prime minister since Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke on January 4th, urged the cabinet to allow the limited East Jerusalem voting.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the cabinet's exclusion of Hamas candidates for East Jerusalem.
"All parties and candidates who registered with the central election committee have the full right to campaign in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem," Mr Erekat said.
Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, said the restrictions diminished Palestinian sovereignty over the election.
"Hamas and other factions are able to carry out their election campaign in many ways and in different methods despite the Zionist blackmail," he said.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. It regards all of Jerusalem as its capital.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas, popular among many Palestinians for its charities, perceived lack of corruption and suicide bombings, is expected to make a strong showing against the mainstream Fatah.
Meanwhile, doctors performed a tracheostomy on Ariel Sharon (77), who remains in a coma, Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem said yesterday.
Doctors hope the incision in his windpipe can help wean him off a respirator.
In a statement clarifying Mr Sharon's leadership status, the justice ministry said he could not be declared permanently incapacitated under Israeli law for another three months.
The ruling, by attorney-general Menachem Mazuz, effectively ensured Mr Olmert (60) would remain interim prime minister up to the general election on March 28th. He was also expected to be named chairman of the Kadima party.
In another election development, Shimon Peres yesterday resigned from parliament, a Knesset spokesman said.
Mr Peres was elected as a member of the Labor party, but was required to resign under Israeli law to run for re-election as part of the Kadima list.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian woman and her 20-year-old son near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank yesterday, witnesses said. The army said soldiers fired back after being attacked by gunmen. - (Reuters)