(Jerusalem Post) Etgar Lefkovits - Thousands of Arab residents of Jerusalem voted overwhelmingly for Hamas in Wednesday's elections, in a city that had always been considered Fatah turf. All four open Jerusalem seats went to Hamas. Two other city seats were reserved for Christians. "The vote is a real surprise because we always felt that the Arab residents of Jerusalem...were closer to Israel and more moderate," said Dr. Yitzhak Reiter, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. Outside observers also pointed to the increasingly Islamic lifestyle of Jerusalem Arabs, with the vast majority of women now covering themselves from head to toe, a sight rarely seen a decade ago.
2006-01-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive