Erekat wins Jericho seat

Saeb Erekat, one of the best-known world faces of the Palestinian Authority, won re-election to parliament in his home town of Jericho, beating back a challenge from a Hamas candidate.

But Erekat was not celebrating. He acknowledged that his Fatah Party took a beating at the hands of the voters yesterday, and many of his colleagues were defeated.

Erekat told The Associated Press that he won two thirds of the vote in the Jordan River Valley oasis town of 30,000, defeating Khaled Rai, 36, who had the backing of the Islamic militant group.

Erekat called it “a staggering victory over Hamas and their allies”. But he said Fatah must do some soul-searching and revitalise its internal institutions.

He said in its 10 years in power, Fatah had failed to deliver in two key areas.

“I think above everything else, we promised Palestinians will deliver them towards peace, and today we are still under (Israeli) occupation, and then, this big motto of corruption and misgovernment that Hamas used very well in its campaign,” Erekat said.

“It’s premature to speak now about the shape and form of the Cabinet, but I can tell you that this will be the beginning of a new Palestinian political life, a new horizon,” he said.

Erekat, 50, the Palestinian official in charge of negotiations with Israel, is a leading spokesman for the Palestinian Authority and appears often on international television news programmes, using his fluent English to explain the Palestinian case.

Erekat is a political science professor by profession but has been deeply involved in Palestinian politics for two decades.