Elections

Tuesday was the last day to register your name for the Palestinian local elections, provided that you are 17 and older and carry an Israeli-issued Palestinian I.D (haweeya). The elections will take place in July. We did not bother with the whole hullabaloo. Posters were hung everywhere around campus, sides of buildings were covered with gargantuan posters, and in each building on campus, a couple of students sat behind a table with an encouraging smile. Sure. Our votes are gonna rock the damn world. Oh, but we shouldn't take this pessimistic view, because if everyone feels that way then they might make a difference if they actually voted. The government in Gaza rejected these upcoming local elections, saying that reconciliation between Fateh and themselves should occur first. We remember the elections in late 2005, everyone was excited and the people around us were relieved and proud to vote for Hamas, since they were beyond fed up with the corrupted Fateh party. We're not going to discuss the political views of both parties, God knows we get enough of it from heated arguments between narrow-minded students around us, but just to make things clear, we are definitely not affiliated with any political faction. Palestinian unity yeah! It's a farce to vote while under occupation. That about sums our feelings up. Many elements come into play, but they're so obvious we're not going to bother depressing ourselves with recounting them. Democratically elected Hamas--leave the 'terrorist group' name tag to the idols of the marketplace (Bacon! We actually learned something here!)--was shunned by the international community and subsequently after over-throwing Fateh from the Gaza strip, collective punishment was imposed on the civilian population, which is illegal under international law blah blah blah. And the President extended his own term by a year. Democracy people! This is what it does to you. How dare you vote for such a party? Hmm..we might become Marxists now.