Postponing Elections Hinders Efforts to End Palestinian Split

Hamas Deputy Chairman Saleh Arouri said that the decision to postpone the elections has hindered the efforts to end the internal Palestinian split.

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He pointed out that the failure to achieve a breakthrough in the previous rounds of dialogue was a result of postponing the elections. The decision not to hold the elections "was made without consultations with the partners or the guarantors," Arouri added.

On April 29, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the postponement of the legislative elections, which had been scheduled for May 22 in the Palestinian territories. His announcement came after Israel refused to allow the elections to be held in East Jerusalem.

Abbas said the general elections could not be held if Palestinians in East Jerusalem can't participate. The Palestinian leadership insists on holding the general elections in occupied East Jerusalem, just like the two previous legislative elections in 1996 and 2006 and the 2005 presidential elections.

In January, Abbas announced that the 2021 general elections would include the legislative elections on May 22, the presidential elections on July 31, and the elections of the Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on Aug. 31.

Abbas chaired a meeting for his ruling Fatah party's revolutionary council on Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, calling on the Palestinian factions to launch a serious dialogue to end the internal split.

The division between Palestinian political forces began when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. All efforts to end the split have so far failed.