Jerusalem race highlights rift

Israel goes to the polls today for municipal elections, which are enlivened this year by a mayoral race in Jerusalem that highlights the city's deep political and religious divisions.

The elections are also being seen as a test of strength ahead of parliamentary elections on Feb. 10, with the leading parties engaged in a battle for prestige and control over more than 150 local councils. Across the country, political activists were using the last days of the campaign to hand out flyers and hang posters in streets and squares, while mayoral candidates mingled with residents in markets, pubs and clubs.

Crucial vote

Israel's local councils have suffered severe fiscal woes in recent years and have undergone a sluggish reform process, but for some cities today’s vote marks a crossroads. In Tel Aviv, Mayor Ron Huldai vies for a third term after 10 years marked by an economic boom that has turned the coastal city into a vibrant financial and cultural center.

But the former air force pilot is facing stiff and unexpected competition from radical left-wing candidate Dov Hanin whose environmental, socialist ticket has attracted thousands of youngsters angered by soaring rents that are threatening to drive out the city's population of students and artists. In Jerusalem, a scandal-hit Israeli-Russian billionaire, a secular millionaire and an ultra-Orthodox MP are vying to become mayor of a city, which is a key stumbling block in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it, declaring the whole city to be its "eternal and undivided capital." That stance is sharply at odds with the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

Most Palestinians are expected to boycott the poll as they have done since Israel conquered east Jerusalem. For the vast majority of the city's Jewish population, "eternal and undivided" is a sacred mantra. The four candidates have repeatedly voiced their opposition to any change in the city's status.  Millionaire Nir Barkat, representing the city's declining number of secular Jews, said he quit PM Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party when "people began mentioning the possibility of giving up some parts of the capital which must remain unified."

His main rival, ultra-Orthodox MP Meir Porush, has also declared that "any concessions over Jerusalem are out of the question." Israel's controversial West Bank barrier runs through the heart of several of east Jerusalem's most densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods, cutting off tens of thousands of Palestinians from local services.

But Barkat, Porush and Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak are promising to tackle the deep inequalities between the Jewish and the Palestinian areas. The drop in the secular population, the relatively small number of companies based in Jerusalem and a rapidly growing, generally poor ultra-Orthodox population are threatening to leave the city in dire financial straits.

"Young people are leaving the city that is becoming more and more religious ... Jerusalem deserves better than what Lupolianski gave it," Barkat said, referring to the current mayor Uri Lupolianski.

Gaza faces blakcout as Israel cuts power

 Israel decided not to allow fuel into the Gaza Strip yesterday despite warnings that the territory's power supply was on the verge of being completely cut off.

"After consultations with security officials and in view of the continued rocket fire, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has decided to maintain the closure of the border crossings and not to authorize the delivery of fuel," a ministry statement said.

"The issue of the reopening of the border crossings and the delivery of fuel supplies will be the subject of further consultations by the defense minister in the evening," the statement added.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel earlier yesterday without causing any casualties or damage, an army spokeswoman said.

The European Commission, which funds the fuel deliveries to Gaza's sole power plant, said it had been informed by Israel that they might resume today. "The Israel liaison office with the Palestinian territories told us that the deliveries to the power station could resume tomorrow," a spokeswoman said.

Barak ordered the sealing of the crossings after Palestinian militants again fired a