The Palestinian elections of January 25th in Cis-Jordan, in the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem “offer an opportunity for a generational turnover of the Palestinian ruling class and come at a crucial political time for Israel as well”. According to Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land, interviewed by Sir, much will depend “also on the type of opposition that the losing parties will want to carry on. Hopefully, everything will remain in the political arena and will not resort to the strength of weapons”. As to this, “Hamas’s involvement in the political competition would suggest they must have chosen political involvement over armed fight”, despite the slogans and the openly anti-Israelian policy that, according to the Custodian, “are almost following a ‘script’. But before the elections Hamas cannot behave any differently, as they risk losing consensus. After voting, room should be left to politics and negotiations. If the voting then re-elects the current Palestinian leaders, this should not particularly affect the Israeli society which is extremely interested in the Palestinian elections, also because they are close to a delicate internal referendum”. Asked about how Palestinian Christians will vote, the Custodian answered “certainly not for the extremist sides”.
