Palestinians voted on Thursday in the first municipal elections in the West Bank in nearly three decades, a dress rehearsal for a presidential ballot next month to choose Yasser Arafat's successor.

The elections, which drew a heavy voter turnout, were expected to be a test of strength between the dominant Fatah Movement and Islamists sworn to destroying Israel.

"This is democracy and freedom, and God willing we will choose the right people who will serve our needs," said Rahma Hamed, a school principal who voted in the village of Silwad, some 20 kilometers north of Jerusalem.

In the West Bank, roughly 1,000 candidates were competing for about 300 seats on 26 local councils, mostly in villages, during the first phase of the elections.

A similar poll in the Gaza Strip was delayed because violence prevented registration.

Long lines formed in front of polling stations amid pleasant weather for what was also the first Palestinian ballot since Arafat was elected president in 1996.

To keep order at polling places, Israel allowed Palestinian police armed with pistols into some towns and villages that have been off-limits to them under interim peace accords signed in the early 1990s.

"This is the first step towards establishment of a Palestinian state," said Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, casting his vote in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, where green flags of the Islamic militant Hamas Movement were prominent.

"This is the start of the democratic process," he said.

Firas Yaghi, head of the municipal election commission, said the council ballot "prepares the way for the presidential election" scheduled for January 9.

Palestinians will choose a successor to Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital from an undisclosed illness last month.

Almost certain to win that election is Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate who opposes armed struggle and is expected to try and revive negotiations.

Challenge ahead

But Fatah, which wants a state on land captured by Israel in 1967, faces a tougher challenge in the municipal ballot from Islamist groups standing in the elections for the first time - though still boycotting the presidential vote.

"It will be a challenge between Fatah and Hamas. It shows Palestinians are thirsty for democracy and I can assure you Fatah will win," said Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah leader.

A good showing for supporters of Hamas in the municipal poll could make it harder for Abbas when it comes to getting fighters to disarm or accept a ceasefire after the presidential election.

"We want to...to support reforms and change," said Kamal Nassasra, a Hamas supporter in the village of Beit Furik. He carried a pendant with photos of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas leaders assassinated by Israel.

Results of voting were expected later Thursday.

Violence goes on

Palestinian militants fired a barrage of mortar shells at an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip Thursday, wounding one man and damaging a house, the army said.

In the return fire one Palestinian was seriously wounded, rescue workers said.

The militants fired 14 mortar shells at the Netzer Hazani settlement, in what settlers said was one of the heaviest attacks in the last four years of fighting.

The attack came hours after Israeli forces wound up their second operation in a week in the nearby Khan Younis refugee camp. Israel sent troops in to try to stop militants from firing mortars and rockets at Israeli settlements and army bases.

Three Palestinians, two of them gunmen, were killed in exchanges of fire with the Israelis in that raid.

(China Daily December 24, 2004)