A Palestinian civil engineer from east Jerusalem is bucking his people's boycott of Israeli politics by running for a seat on the Jerusalem City Council in the Oct. 30 municipal elections.
Ramadan Dabash, 51, is running with a campaign that demands equitable municipal services while sidestepping the long struggle over sovereignty.
A third of Jerusalem's residents are Palestinians, who pay taxes but complain of neglect by Israeli authorities more attentive to the western, Jewish districts.
The division has been reinforced by a policy of nonparticipation in Jerusalem municipal politics ordered by the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the adjacent West Bank and wants east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Dabash is running at the head of a politically independent list. His campaign has been condemned by the PA.
Speaking in his district of Sur Baher, where dirty streets and open piles of refuse are common sights, Dabash says he is impatient for change and there is a need for pragmatic adaptation.
"East Jerusalemites suffer greatly from lack of services and representation in the Jerusalem Municipality," Dabash said.
"Some of the people claim this is 'normalization' or 'Israelization,' but that is not true. Receiving services is not considered normalization. It is a continuity of the normal daily life we are living. We do not have any other alternative. … Rights are taken, not granted."
Dabash has pointedly eschewed running for mayor in the coming election. Four Jewish candidates, one of them a cabinet ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are closely contesting that position.
Another Palestinian, Aziz Abu Sarah, announced a mayoral campaign but dropped out due to what he said were "threats against my residency in Jerusalem by the Interior Ministry and pressure from the PA."
During the race, protesters shouted at Abu Sarah in Arabic and pelted him with eggs outside city hall.
Dabash hopes to win as many as five seats on the 31-member city council. His "Jerusalem is My City" list contains 13 Palestinian candidates, as well as one Jewish Israeli adviser.
Success looks unlikely. A candidate needs 8,000 votes to win a seat on the council. Municipal figures show that in the last two council elections, the turnout among Jerusalem's 220,000 voting-age Palestinians has hovered around 3%, suggesting deep grassroots disaffection with Jerusalem politics.
Palestinian leaders strongly disapprove of Dabash's bid.
"These attempts have failed before and will also fail this time because our people in the city of Jerusalem will reject these outcasts who try to legitimize this occupation and the tools of this occupation," said Adnan Ghaith, the PA official in charge of the Jerusalem portfolio.
