Police prevent election disruption

Israeli police prevented more than a dozen Israeli demonstrators from disrupting voting in today’s Palestinian presidential vote, a Jerusalem police spokesman said.

The demonstrators, holding signs and Israeli flags, tried to march near a polling station in disputed east Jerusalem.

But large numbers of Israeli police kept them away, said spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

Hundreds of Israeli police were deployed in east Jerusalem to ensure that the vote go smoothly.

Israel permitted Arab residents of the city to participate in the Palestinian election.

But Israeli hard-liners oppose their participation, fearing it will undermine Israeli sovereignty over the city.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the area. Israel and the Palestinians both claim east Jerusalem.

Israel permitted only a small fraction of Jerusalem’s 120,000 Palestinian voters to vote inside the city. The vast majority will have to travel to outlying suburbs to vote.