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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Palestinian officials suggest elections to end split | |
| 2011-02-02 | |
| [Arab News] Senior Paleostinian officials on Tuesday called for holding general elections in Paleostinian territories to pave the way to overcome the internal split. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suggested holding general elections in West Bank and Gazoo Strip "as soon as possible to reunify the two parts of homeland and its institutions."
He added that the Paleostinians are on the verge of creating their independent state. Fayyad stressed, "The creation of the state requires the reunification of West Bank and Gazoo Strip and the institution of Paleostinian people." On Oct. 24, 2009, Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree calling on the Paleostinians to head to the ballots on Jan. 25, 2010. However, The infamous However... the Central Elections Committee (CEC) informed Abbas later that it is impossible to hold the elections on time after Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers of the Gazoo Strip refused to let its teams work freely. Hamas, which sized control over Gazoo in 2007, said it will not allow holding the elections in the coastal enclave until a reconciliation agreement is reached. For his part, member of Fatah Central Committee Azzam Al-Ahmad also suggested holding presidential and parliamentary elections to overcome the split. Al-Ahmed urged representatives of the Paleostinian factions to agree to hold elections "because we cannot remain hostages of Hamas movement and its relations with regional and international powers." He added that it is still early to talk about dates for the elections. "But the Paleostinians are capable of finding out ways to overcome the split," the Fatah official said. Representatives of the two parties met in the Syrian capital of Damascus on mid-November in yet another attempt to solve the crisis, but failed to reach agreement over the main sticking point: Security. In late September, the two movements reached a paper of "understandings" in a meeting held in Damascus related to the restructure of Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) and general elections. Hamas officials had earlier announced that they were looking for forming a highest security committee to be in charge of reforming the security forces of the PA. However, The infamous However... Abbas had announced earlier that the issue of security can never be shared between Hamas and Fatah, and it must be independent and has one leadership. In October 2009, Egypt presented a draft of reconciliation to the Paleostinian factions, mainly rivals Fatah and Hamas. Fatah accepted the reconciliation draft while Hamas refused to sign and said it had some reservations that should be reconsidered. Egypt, which hosted five rounds of Paleostinian national dialogue, rejected Hamas demands and said that signing on the pact should be first, and observations, reservations and notes would be added after the signing in a special appendix. Since then, the ties between the Cairo and Hamas deteriorated. | |
| Posted by:Fred |