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Palestinians hold municipal elections amid rising anger with Mahmoud Abbas

The National World News reported according to the Voice of America, Palestinians held municipal elections on Saturday in a sprawling democratic exercise in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and amid growing anger after President Mahmoud Abbas canceled a planned legislative and presidential election earlier this year.
More than 400,000 Palestinians were eligible to vote in the 154 West Coast Village Councils, where Abbas’s Palestinian Authority restricted self-government.
Municipal voting is usually held every four or five years.
Municipal elections are not being held in Gaza, where Hamas Islamic rulers are boycotting the vote due to disagreements with Abbas’s Fatah party. The 86-year-old president has postponed a municipal vote that could be seen as a referendum on the Abbas administration in major West Bank cities such as Ramallah.

“These elections cannot be an alternative to legislative elections,” said Ahmad Issa, 23, in front of a polling station in the West Bank village of Bir Nabala, adding that a legislative vote could offer a “horizon for the youth” and lead to reforms.
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In the village of Beth Kahil, women and men lined up in front of the polling station, some in face masks to protect themselves from COVID-19. Once inside, they put ballot papers in envelopes, tossed them in ballot boxes, and dipped their fingers in ink as they exited to prevent people from voting twice.
Abbas, whose support in public opinion polls has declined, said in April that Israel had restricted Palestinian voting in East Jerusalem and canceled the planned legislative and presidential elections in the summer, sparking widespread outrage.
Abbas’s opponents, including Hamas, have accused him of using the Jerusalem voting dispute as an excuse to cancel elections.
Abbas, who has ruled by decree for more than a decade, denies this.
A Hamas spokesman who boycotted previous municipal elections in 2012 and 2017 said the group would “refuse to run in the Fatah-adapted and partial elections held by the Palestinian Authority” and called on Abbas to reschedule the canceled summer elections.
After an 11-day war with Israel in May, Hamas gained popularity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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The group has won student council elections at several leading West Coast universities this year, an important barometer of support.
The Palestinians are seeking statehood in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which were occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel annexed the internationally unrecognized East Jerusalem, and peace talks between the two sides broke down in 2014.
Hamas won the last Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006. This victory paved the way for a political rift.
Hamas captured Gaza in 2007 after a brief civil war with Fatah and has ruled the coastal enclave ever since.
Source: nationalworldnews
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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