Hamas beats Fatah to control big West Bank cities: poll

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hamas won control on
Thursday of the councils of some large West Bank cities,
beating the ruling Fatah party in a municipal vote seen as a
test of strength ahead of parliamentary elections, a poll
showed.

The survey by the Palestinian Center of Policy and Survey
Research said the militant group had won 68 percent of seats in
Nablus’s municipality, while President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah
garnered 16 percent. The city is home to about 187,000 people.

Sworn to Israel’s destruction, Hamas, which has spearheaded
a suicide bombing campaign since the start of a Palestinian
uprising in 2000, could undermine Abbas’s peace efforts with
Israel if it gains clout in parliament.

Hamas’s power has grown since the start of the uprising and
since Israel completed its Gaza pullout in September. Israel
fears the group could make strong gains in a parliamentary vote
on January 25, when it will challenge Fatah for the first time.

The poll showed Hamas won 53 percent of council seats in
the West Bank town of al-Bireh, while Fatah received 27
percent. In the city of Jenin, Hamas garnered 43 percent of
municipal seats, while Fatah and other groups received 42
percent.

Fatah retained control of the council of the city of
Ramallah, where the main Palestinian government offices are
located, as the poll gave the party a slight edge over Hamas,
with 34 percent and 31 percent respectively.

Fatah had outstripped Hamas in a previous round of
municipal elections in September, gaining control of 51 out of
104 West Bank town councils. But Hamas had made a strong
showing in the first two rounds of municipal ballots in the
West Bank and Gaza.

Abbas has been scrambling to heal a split in Fatah between
its older and younger loyalists. The rift intensified on
Thursday after young dissidents announced they were forming a
new party that would run in the parliamentary election.