The Palestinian Central Election Commission rejected the candidacy of a senior Hamas terrorist who is serving 46 consecutive life sentences and another 30 years in Israeli prison for directing three mass attacks in Israel.
The commission determined that Hassan Salameh, a former commander of the Hamas military branch, Izaddin al-Qassam, will not be able to run in the next parliamentary election, scheduled for May 22, because his name does not appear on the commission’s final electoral register.
The commission defended its decision by arguing that it was an executive body charged with implementing the electoral law.
The CEC pointed out that it accepted the candidacy of many Palestinian prisoners who met the conditions of the commission, including registration. The commission said it approved the candidacy of 10 other prisoners whose names are on Hamas’ list.
He was 13th on the Hamas electoral list that was recently submitted to the CEC. The list is called “Jerusalem is our destination”.
On Monday, a Palestinian electoral court rejected an appeal by Hamas against the decision to remove Salameh from the electoral list.
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In response, Hamas expressed “great regret” over the decision to reject Salameh’s candidacy, noting that he had been arrested by the IDF many years ago.
“We explained all the circumstances to the Central Election Commission and made extensive contacts with their chiefs to clarify the danger of removing the name of a Palestinian prisoner who made the greatest sacrifices,” said Hamas in a statement. “Today, however, we were surprised by the court’s decision to dismiss the appeal against its removal from our list.”
According to Hamas, “it is the duty of the Central Electoral Commission to make the necessary decisions and mechanisms that protect the political rights of all Palestinian prisoners”.
High Hamas official Ahmed Bahr condemned the decision to reject Salameh’s candidacy, calling it “betrayal of the sacrifices of our heroic prisoners”.
Bahr said that Hamas expected the CEC to “respect the sacrifices of our heroic prisoners and take into account their special circumstances”.
He returned to the Gaza Strip shortly after the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO in 1993 and was involved in several shooting attacks on IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers.
After the assassination of Hamas’ arch-terrorist and main bomb maker, Yahya Ayyash, in January 1996, Hamas entrusted Salameh with the task of carrying out a series of terrorist attacks against Israel.
Salameh moved to the West Bank, where he planned a series of suicide attacks in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, in which 46 people died and 91 were injured.