Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was finalising a new list of candidates for next month’s parliamentary poll in a bid to end a damaging rift in his Fatah faction as it faces a challenge from Hamas. Palestinian officials said he was likely to submit the new list for ruling Fatah yesterday when party registration for the January 25 election will reopen for six hours following a decision by election authorities.

A Palestinian court ordered the reopening after an appeal from some Fatah members. This gives Abbas the chance to merge rival lists within Fatah that had threatened to undercut its election chances against the militant Islamic group Hamas. “A majority of the panel decided to accept the challenges and as a result the Central Election Commission is obliged to open registration for six hours,” judges said in a statement. The move is set to boost Fatah, where internal rivals belatedly agreed to merge their lists to fight a formidable challenge as Hamas runs for parliament for the first time.

The internal rift followed the establishment of a separate grouping by popular younger members in a power challenge to a corruption-tainted old guard who figured prominently on Abbas’s original list of candidates. Hamas, committed to destroying Israel, is riding high on a wave of popularity for its corruption-free reputation and its extensive charity network. It was boosted by the division in Fatah – one of the gravest crises in its 40-year history.

Polls show Fatah might get more than 45 percent if united but this could be more than halved if it remained split. Hamas gets about 30 percent in opinion polls. But it swept local council votes in West Bank cities last week, alarming Fatah as well as Israel, the United States and European Union. Meanwhile, Israel said it is considering allowing East Jerusalem residents to vote in the election and drop a threatened ban which drew calls for the ballot to be postponed.

Israel said last week it would not allow East Jerusalem residents to vote because Hamas is taking part in the ballot. Palestinians there carry Israeli identity cards, but see themselves as citizens of a future Palestinian state. They were allowed to vote in a Palestinian presidential ballot this year.

East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally. A senior Israeli official said Israel did not want to be blamed for any postponement of the long-delayed vote. “We reject any attempts to pin the blame for postponement of elections on us. We have nothing to do with it,” the official said.

Mohammed ASSADI</B>