Israel heads to polls, but West Bank neighbours cannot vote
JERUSALEM — Israel’s approaching election is drawing attention to the unequal political rights of people living in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers can vote for the government while their Palestinian neighbours generally cannot.
Israelis are scheduled to elect a new parliament on 27 October. The outcome will determine the government responsible for policies affecting Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation without Israeli citizenship.
Israeli electoral law grants citizens aged 18 and older the right to vote. Palestinian citizens of Israel are included in that electorate. Most Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, however, are not Israeli citizens and cannot participate in Knesset elections.
Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has documented how electoral arrangements allow settlers to cast ballots from settlements beyond Israel’s internationally recognised boundaries, while neighbouring Palestinians have no equivalent representation in the institutions exercising power over them.
The organisation argues that describing the occupation as temporary has helped sustain this exclusion, despite decades of Israeli control. Its criticism concerns the relationship between political authority and the rights of the people subject to that authority.
An Al Jazeera report on Wednesday highlighted Palestinian concerns about their exclusion from an election whose consequences extend into the occupied territory.
Settlement expansion provides a concrete example of those consequences. United Nations officials have repeatedly warned about the E1 project, which would connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement with occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities approved plans for 3,401 settlement homes in the area in 2025. The UN human rights office has warned that the development threatens Palestinian communities with displacement and would deepen the fragmentation of the West Bank.
The project has also prompted concern about the territorial viability of a future Palestinian state. Israeli settlements in occupied territory are considered illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes.
Palestinians also face a prolonged absence of national elections in their own political institutions. President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed legislative elections planned for November until 11 September 2027, with a presidential vote scheduled for the same date.
Abbas cited Israeli restrictions and deteriorating conditions as reasons for the delay. Israel rejected the accusation that it was responsible, while critics said the postponement prolonged the lack of political accountability within the Palestinian Authority.
The two electoral processes concern different institutions. A Palestinian vote would choose Palestinian representatives; it would not give West Bank residents a ballot in Israel’s election or direct representation in the government overseeing the occupation.
For Palestinians seeking greater control over their future, both the occupation and the repeated postponement of their own national elections remain barriers to political participation.
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