Hundreds of volunteers helped organize OneVoice events from Jericho to Jenin, from Gaza to
Among them was former Hamas student representative Ahmad Nadi Salameh. “I’ve lost many people to the intifadah and don't want to lose any more,” he explained when I asked why he had decided to join OneVoice. “I am fed up with the extremist slogans. We need a realistic plan for all the people in this region.”
As a non-partisan organization, OneVoice was the only group working to encourage participation in the elections on Sunday (as political campaigning was prohibited on election day). Nisreen Shaheen, Deputy Director, explained that “elections offer a rare opportunity to get ordinary citizens power to be heard, which is our mission. But since elections don’t happen every day, we have to be creative and assertive to keep focus on the will of the ordinary people throughout the year.”
Hamas had called upon Palestinians to boycott the elections. Their appeal did not gain traction and 70% of registered voters came to the polls.
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