00:00There were long lines outside one of the makeshift polling stations in Deir al-Balakh.
00:05People were keen to cast their ballots before voting closed in the central Gaza town.
00:10It was forced to shut at 6pm.
00:12A lack of electricity in the war-ravaged area meant no voting after dark.
00:17Officials have had to improvise amid widespread destruction.
00:22We manufactured the ballot boxes locally.
00:25We produced 110 boxes for use at polling stations.
00:30The ballot papers were printed in the Gaza Strip.
00:32We used an effective alternative to the electoral ink
00:35by using special ink pens provided by the World Health Organization.
00:43At the same time, voting took place across the whole of the occupied West Bank.
00:48It's under the administrative control of the Fatah Party
00:51of 90-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
00:56Independent polling says Hamas,
00:59the group that carried out the October 7, 2023 terror attacks against Israel,
01:04is still the most popular political faction in both Gaza and the West Bank.
01:09But there are no lists officially associated with Hamas in either territory.
01:14The vote in Gaza is being seen as largely symbolic.
01:17It's being held only in Deir al-Balach,
01:20one of the few areas in the enclave not to have experienced an Israeli ground invasion.
01:27Hopefully the rest of the governments and the entire Gaza Strip will have elections
01:31and be distinguished after the fierce war.
01:34These two and a half years of war, destruction, homes and broken streets.
01:37And we will see, God willing, our cities improve.
01:40The Palestinian Authority also hopes the election there will help reinforce its claim to authority over the territory
01:48after its ouster by Hamas in 2007.
01:52It has, however, faced accusations of being both corrupt and ineffectual.
01:59DW correspondent Emily Gordeen has been covering the story from the occupied West Bank a short while ago.
02:04I asked her how elections looked there.
02:06And in Gaza's Deir al-Bala.
02:10Well, in Gaza, elections are taking place in rubble and amid continued airstrikes.
02:15In the last 48 hours, Israeli airstrikes have killed about 17 Palestinians.
02:20People in Deir al-Bala, in sort of south to center Gaza,
02:25that's where people have been allowed to cast their ballot.
02:30They've been doing so under difficult circumstances
02:32because ballot boxes were not allowed into the territory by the Israeli authorities.
02:37They've had to build their own ballot boxes from the rubble.
02:41Ink has also been difficult to get in,
02:44which is why Palestinians have had to use the material used by UNICEF to mark children
02:49who have been vaccinated as a sort of stamp or signature in some form on these ballots, as we understand.
02:59Now, in the West Bank, the situation is obviously very different.
03:02It's not done in rubble, but it is done.
03:04The elections are taking place amid settler violence.
03:07We've heard of several reports of settler violence in villages where elections are taking place.
03:12So, all in all, difficult circumstances.
03:17Yeah, it certainly sounds like it.
03:19Do these elections feel relevant to Palestinians, or do they feel sort of disconnected from real power?
03:31It really depends on who you speak to.
03:33We were earlier in a place, in a village called Singal,
03:36and the school where people cast their ballots, it was bustling.
03:41It was full of people keen to cast their ballot, to cast their vote,
03:45because they say it is their democratic duty.
03:47They understand themselves as a democratic country, as a democratic nation,
03:51and they see it as imperative to use that voice and to use that say in these municipal elections
04:00to find a leader that represents them.
04:04But we've also seen villages in which people, not a single person, went out and voted.
04:10And so, it really depends on who you speak to.
04:13Some see these elections as a form of democratic participation,
04:18and then others see it as delegitimate and not really free elections.
04:24Emily, how is Israel viewing these elections?
04:31Well, the average Israeli will not know that Palestinians are holding municipal elections.
04:36But the security apparatus in Israel has undoubtedly been watching the developments
04:42in the occupied West Bank and Gaza very carefully.
04:45We've been able to speak to certain people on the ground in the occupied West Bank,
04:49telling us that certain candidates, who previously had wanted to run,
04:54had been receiving calls by Israeli military officials,
04:57urging them not to put themselves forward, not to be a candidate.
05:02And so, they actually withdrew their candidacy because of their political background.
05:06You have to understand Hamas and also the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
05:12These are two parties that are seen as terrorist organizations by Israel,
05:18and not just by Israel, also many European countries in the US,
05:21see Hamas, for example, as a terrorist organization.
05:24And therefore, they are seen as completely illegitimate.
05:27And so, candidates who might have run as independents,
05:31who had wanted to run as independents,
05:33who might have had some certain affiliations with these groups,
05:36have then been urged not to run in these elections.
05:39The election officials say the goal is to link the West Bank and Gaza politically as one system.
05:46So, does this vote bring the territories closer together,
05:49or highlight how divided they are?
05:56Well, it's very difficult to tell from on the ground.
06:00The reality is that Gaza and the West Bank are vastly different.
06:05But the signal that the election committee wanted to send here is that it is one nation,
06:11it is one people, and they should be treated as such.
06:14There shouldn't be a separate Gaza and a separate occupied West Bank.
06:19There should be one entity, it should be seen as one entity,
06:22and that is the political signal that this sends.
06:25But, of course, the reality and oftentimes also the political opinions on the ground
06:30will vary vastly also depending on the realities that people live through day in and day out.
06:36Right, Emily, we'll leave it there.
06:38But really great to get that update from you.
06:41Emily Gordeen, DW correspondent, joining us today from the occupied West Bank.
06:45Thanks so much.
06:47Well, Emily Gordeen has been talking to Palestinian voters in the West Bank today,
06:53asking what these elections meant to them.
06:57This is a democratic celebration for us.
07:00It's important to vote for someone who serves you and represents you in your Palestinian society.
07:11We are a democratic country. We must aspire towards change, towards a new reality, where we avoid destruction.
07:20People today are living without goals in their lives.
07:24A very young man with no goals.
07:27And many young people want to get married or want to secure accommodation.
07:32And there's no one to guide them or to support them.
07:36Unemployment is very high.
07:43We're not expecting the mayor to remove a checkpoint or the fence around Sinjil.
07:48But he can contribute in developing the town, creating opportunities and maintaining roads.
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