Today, Saturday, the Israeli occupation police arrested 3 candidates for the Palestinian legislative elections in the city of Jerusalem, after they prevented factions from holding a press conference about the elections.
Press sources in Jerusalem told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli police prevented the holding of the press conference for the candidates of the Palestinian Democratic Union (FDA), the Palestinian People's Party, and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) regarding the parliamentary elections scheduled for next month, and arrested 3 candidates.
The sources pointed out that holding the conference was aimed at confirming the candidates from the city of Jerusalem on their position on the necessity of holding elections in the city, and the mechanisms for the participation of Jerusalemites in it.
According to the journalist Christine Rinawi, the official Palestinian TV correspondent, the detainees are: Ashraf Al-Awar and Nasir Qus, the two candidates for the Fatah movement’s list, and Ratiba Natsheh from the Palestinian Democratic Union’s list.
The conference was supposed to take place in a hotel in downtown Jerusalem, according to Renawi.
Rinawi reported that a number of Palestinians staged a sit-in on Salah al-Din Street in the city center, waving Palestinian flags after the conference was banned.
The official Palestinian News Agency also reported that the occupation intelligence informed the St. George Hotel management to prevent the establishment of any activity affiliated with or supportive of the Palestinian National Authority, and handed them over a decision by the Minister of Internal Security to prevent these activities from taking place.
The Fatah movement condemned the arrests, and the movement’s spokesman and member of its revolutionary council, Iyad Nasr, called in a press statement, the international community to bind the occupation authorities to international law and decisions of international legitimacy and to allow the holding of Palestinian elections for election and candidacy in the city of Jerusalem, affirming commitment to holding elections in occupied Jerusalem and adhering to national constants .
Palestinian parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on May 22, and then presidential elections will be held on July 31.
Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, especially those of the Palestinian Authority, face severe censorship by the Israeli authorities over their activities and activities, as a number of them have been closed over the past years, and the most prominent of these institutions is the official Palestine TV.