In an apparent effort to forestall gains by Hamas in Palestinian elections, the Israeli army has arrested a large number of potential candidates in the southern part of the West Bank. The arrests began shortly after midnight on Saturday in the town of Dura, nearly 50km south of Jerusalem, where the Israeli occupation army arrested an undisclosed number of Islamist leaders. Local sources in the Hebron area said the detainees included Shaikh Nayif Rajub, imam of the town’s Grand Mosque, and Shaikh Fathi Amr, a high-ranking official in Hebron’s Islamic endowments department. Rajub’s twin brother, Yasir, was also arrested. Read more about Israel arrests Palestinian candidates 

“These are the first local elections I have ever participated in,” said Abu Marwan, 72. “I missed the other election in 1976.” He and a friend, Asad Qassem, 74, were sitting outside a grocery store, near the centre of Beit Fourik, a town of some 11,000 inhabitants near Nablus. The two of them were dressed in traditional garb, a lot of it on this cloudy wintry day, and watched the comings and goings at the small but busy intersection. The first phase of the Palestinian municipal elections started this December 23 in 26 municipalities in the West Bank, and Beit Fourik’s townsfolk were out in force. Read more about Voters flock to polling stations for the first phase of Palestine's municipal elections 

The following lists of 2004 most requested EI articles and BY TOPIC reference pages was compiled from electronicIntifada.net webserver statistics recording the period between 1 January and 30 December 2004. This list covers the full range of articles and pages published by EI since 2001, not just those published in 2004. Links open in new windows to allow readers to browse through the list. Compiled by EI’s Nigel Parry and Arjan El Fassed. Read more about 2004 Most Requested Pages on EI 

The Writing on the Wall is a series of interviews with Palestinians who live close to the Wall. Van Teeffelen asked three questions: How is your daily life influenced by the Wall and the checkpoints? What does freedom mean to you? What are your sources of energy? Toine van Teeffelen speaks with Hania Bitar is director-general of the Palestinian youth association Pyalara. “As an organization you always want to challenge tough challenges, to be stronger even than the Wall or the barriers. We really try to overcome whatever measures the Israelis take. We try to make the people connected despite the fact that they are disconnected. As Palestinians you feel that anybody living outside this Wall just doesn’t care.” Read more about The Writing on the Wall: Hania Batar 

Faced with overwhelming Israeli oppression, Palestinians under occupation, in refugee camps and in the heart of Israel’s distinct form of apartheid have increasingly reached out to the world for understanding, for compassion, and, more importantly, for solidarity. Palestinians do not beg for sympathy. We deeply resent patronization, for we are no longer a nation of hapless victims. We are resisting racial and colonial oppression, aspiring to attain justice and genuine peace. Above all, we are struggling for the universal principle of equal humanity. Omar Barghgouti presented the contents of this article at the “Resisting Israeli Apartheid” Conference at the University of London (SOAS), on December 5, 2004. Read more about Boycott as Resistance: The Moral Dimension 

In the last four years, Israeli authorities have all but refused to issue permits for students from Gaza to travel to and from the West Bank. They have also made renewing permits increasingly difficult for students who began their degrees before the Intifada started. In 2000, 370 Gaza students enrolled at Birzeit University. Enrollment of Gaza students in 2005 is down to 39. Those who began their degrees in 2000 have been left with two stark choices: They can either drop out or stay and risk all that this entails. “We live a different life to students from the West Bank,” explains Abdel Rahim, one of the 35 Gaza students still studying at Birzeit. Read more about Gazan students' fugitive lives 

The independent Palestinian  presidential contestant, Mustafa al-Barghuthi, has said he can beat the front-runner, official Fatah candidate Mahmud Abbas, in the 9 January election. Speaking during an election rally in the town of Dura, 45km southwest of Jerusalem, on Friday, Al-Barghuthi said Palestinians shouldn’t trust “biased and tendentious polls”, an allusion to recent opinion surveys which gave Abbas a substantial lead over al-Barghuthi and other candidates. “The results of the municipal elections prove that all the opinion polls we had seen were false. So don’t trust these polls,” he said. “Instead I urge you to work with me to create a new leadership that will feel and identify with the pain of our people, not the pain of others.” Read more about Abbas' rival strikes confident note 

“As we write this to you, we are still in Advent, a period of waiting and hoping and preparing, a time of expectation.” Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders write from Zababdeh, Palestine. Christmas in the Holy Land has a special meaning, but under military occupation it also means stocking up for curfew, anticipating loss, fearing for the worst. Despite the exhaustion, the fear, the uncertainty, the word from Zababdeh is Hope. And from this hope springs faith anew, reborn this Christmas season. Read more about Living into Hope: Christmas in Zababdeh, Palestine 

Like most Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Muhammad Qaisiya, a 45-year-old taxi driver, is quite satisfied that a municipal election will finally take place in his small town of Dahiriya, some 17km south west of Hebron, on Thursday. The last local election in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories took place in 1976. Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) supporters won the mayoral election, prompting the Israeli occupation government to freeze the democratic process indefinitely and adopt a policy based on appointment rather than election. Read more about Palestinians prepare for local elections