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Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
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| By Israel Insider staff August 13, 2007 |
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Despite Hamas opposition, PA officials announced Sunday that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas intends to hold legislative and presidential elections within the next six months. The elections will be held in both the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Abbas announced his plans over the weekend to the PLO executive committee.
Ghassan Shaka'ah, one of the committee members, said that the only solution reunite the Palestinian people, who were divided by Hamas? bloody putsch in Gaza, was to hold early elections.
"The legislative and executive branches of the Palestinian Authority are in a state of paralysis," he said. "This is an intolerable situation and the time has come to go back to the people so they will be able to express their opinion through the ballot box."
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a top Fatah official and an aide to Abbas, joined the chorus of voices calling for early elections as a way to bridge the rift caused by Hamas? takeover.
"Hamas's coup has changed the entire political picture in Palestine," he said. "It's impossible to hold talks with Hamas. The coup must end, and the only way to solve the crisis is by holding early parliamentary and presidential elections so that the Palestinians can have their say after this bitter experience with Hamas."
However Hamas fervently opposes early elections, insisting that Abbas? call to bring the Palestinians to the ballot box is an attempt "to serve the interests of Israel and the US," the Jerusalem Post reported.
"There is no need for early elections," a top Hamas official in Gaza City said. "The next legislative elections are scheduled to be held in two years. Besides, we are certain that Abbas and Fatah will forge the results of the elections, especially in the West Bank."
Both Fatah and Hamas sources have said that the two factions are conducting secret negotiations, an allegation that Abbas vehemently denies. For the US and Israel, renewed negotiations with Hamas would be a deal-breaker in the support they are lavishing on Abbas.
"Our position remains very clear," Rahman said. "There will be no negotiations with those who staged the coup in the Gaza Strip. These statements are untrue."
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