Gazans 'angry' at boycott of local elections

Gazans have expressed their anger at being denied the right to vote in the local elections, which took place in the occupied West Bank only amid boycott from Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.

Palestinians in villages of the Israeli-occupied West Bank voted in municipal polls on Saturday.

No legislative or presidential election has been held in the Palestinian territories for 15 years, while the last municipal vote - also boycotted by Hamas - took place in 2017.

Mohammed al-Farrah, 45, a resident from Khan Younis city in the south of the coastal enclave, told The New Arab that he was angry at being prevented from his right to vote.

He blamed both Fatah and Hamas for the current situation in Gaza, as they are not interested in ending their ongoing division.

"Both of them have been gaining lots of money and power while their people are struggling amid the continued Israeli violations against us," al-Farrah said.

"There is ongoing poverty and the high rate of unemployment in the strip, while thousands are desperate to leave the area as soon as possible."

He explained that he was able to practice his right to vote only once in 2006, when the general elections were held in the Palestinian territories.

Samira al-Halaq, 26, a resident from Gaza city, told TNA that the suspension of elections in the besieged enclave prevented local residents from achieving their own dreams and goals.

Due to Palestinian internal division, there is a large number of graduates without work, a lot of the sick people who are unable get treatment because they cannot cross the borders which are operated by Israel and Egypt, al-Halaq said.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the unemployment in the Palestinian Territories stood at 23.4 percent; 43.1 percent in the Israeli-blockade coastal enclave and 14.9 percent in the West Bank in the final quarter of 2020 (October-December). 

In comparison, 53 percent of the Gaza population lives in poverty, while the poverty in the West Bank hit 14 percent, the PCBS reported.