Palestinians ‘want to be able to choose their own leaders’, despite low turnout in local elections

The Palestinian Authority wants to tell the public and the world that it’s committed to reforms, that it is enacting those reforms. They’ve changed the election law, to the dislike of most Palestinians, but, to the cheering of the international committee, they’re holding these elections, and they’re committed to holding legislative elections, which haven’t been held since 2005 – and that’s where the key is. People want to be able to choose their own leaders, not just at the local level. For Palestinians, what they’ve seen this time around, especially here in the occupied West Bank, are independent lists. They’re not promising a lot of things because there’s very little they can do.