On Saturday, April 25, 2026, local elections were held in Areas A and B under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, including the area surrounding Jerusalem. The elections took place five years after the previous round and for the first time since the \u201cIron Swords\u201d war in October 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Jerusalem envelope – the Palestinian towns surrounding the city – elections were held in 19 local authorities. Eligible voters were those holding green ID cards, meaning residents who are not defined as living within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty and who do not hold blue Israeli ID cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elections were largely technical and local in nature and are not expected to significantly alter the internal Palestinian political map, but they serve as an important political barometer. In the Jerusalem district, they were conducted in suburban towns under the limitations of the Oslo Accords, without direct Israeli involvement and without requiring explicit official Israeli approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 19 local authorities in the Palestinian Authority\u2019s Jerusalem district, 165,000 eligible voters are registered, all holding green ID cards. Voter turnout was relatively low at 43.9%. Prominent localities in the district include Abu Dis, Anata, al-Eizariya, Beit Hanina, and Qalandiya. In some of these areas, only residents of the rural parts, which fall under PA jurisdiction, participated, while urban residents holding blue Israeli ID cards did not take part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all authorities, local lists affiliated with Fatah won the elections. In many constituencies, only a single joint list ran and was approved without voting (\u201cacclamation\u201d). The elections passed quietly, with no disturbances reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamas did not participate because a presidential decree issued by Mahmoud Abbas required every candidate to sign a declaration committing to the political program of the PLO, including recognition of Israel, acceptance of the Oslo Accords, and renunciation of armed struggle – conditions Hamas does not accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key figure in shaping the agreed lists in the Jerusalem district was Fatah member Abdullah Siam, Deputy Governor of Jerusalem on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Siam does not hold a blue Israeli ID card, and despite his PA role, Israel did not impose restrictions on his movement, allowing him to travel between the towns around Jerusalem and coordinate with the election headquarters in Ramallah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On Saturday, April 25, 2026, local elections were held in Areas A and B under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, including the area surrounding Jerusalem. The elections took place five years after the previous round and for the first time since the \u201cIron Swords\u201d war in October 2023. In the Jerusalem envelope – the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":180790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9320","_seopress_titles_title":"Fatah Wins Uncontested in Local Elections Around Jerusalem","_seopress_titles_desc":"The Palestinian local elections around Jerusalem ended with a sweeping victory for Fatah-aligned lists","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,184,68],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-180792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-184","9":"category-68"},"acf":{"subtitle":"The Palestinian local elections around Jerusalem ended with a sweeping victory for Fatah-aligned lists"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180817,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180792\/revisions\/180817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}