The Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza has banned all public commemoration of Yasser Arafat's death this year, officials with the rival secular Fatah group said on Tuesday.
Wednesday will mark five years since Arafat, the revered Palestinian leader and founder of Fatah, died in a Paris military hospital at the age of 75.
"The (Hamas) internal security forces have summoned dozens members of the (Fatah) movement in the Gaza Strip to tell them that all commemoration of Abu Ammar's (Arafat's) death has been banned," a senior Fatah official told AFP.
Interior security forces came yesterday and demanded that we not print any photos of the deceased president or any Fatah slogans without prior permission from the interior ministry
Hamas interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein denied the allegations, saying "the ministry has not prevented anyone because it has not heard of any activities for the anniversary."
But an owner of a printing shop in Gaza told AFP the Islamists ordered him not to print any photos of Arafat ahead of Wednesday.
"Interior security forces came yesterday and demanded that we not print any photos of the deceased president or any Fatah slogans without prior permission from the interior ministry," he said on condition of anonymity.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007, ousting forces loyal to Fatah and splitting the Palestinians into two warring camps.
No voter registration
These are all indications that the elections will not take place on the 24th
Meanwhile voter registration for a Palestinian election failed to get under way as scheduled on Tuesday, adding to signs that President Mahmoud Abbas might be bluffing about a make-or-break vote in January.
If that turned out to be the case, he may also be bluffing about quitting the presidency. His real aims may be to repair badly damaged Palestinian unity and to bolster American support for his position in peace talks with Israel.
Abbas called the election last month in line with the constitution, while knowing it would probably be rejected by his Islamist rivals Hamas, who rule Gaza.
Last week, citing disillusionment with the faltering peace process and what he believes is Washington's failure to back legitimate Palestinian demands, Abbas announced he personally did not plan to seek re-election on Jan. 24.
Tuesday was supposed to see the start of a five-day process of registering an estimated 260,000 young Palestinians who have reached voting age since the last election in 2006.
But none of 1,000 registration centers in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip was open to take names. The independent Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), which organized ballots in 1996, 2005 and 2006, had no comment on the delay.
Along with an absence of political posters, billboards, or banners for the parliamentary and presidential race, a total lack of campaign excitement was another sign that the election date may be a political fiction.
"These are all indications that the elections will not take place on the 24th," a Western diplomat said.
Hamas has said it would not permit the vote to take place in Gaza -- thereby excluding a third of the Palestinian population -- and might hold a separate election, leading to two rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
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