Rumors that the Israeli government has agreed to allow the elections to take place, including in East Jerusalem, are “unfounded,” the Palestinian Authority (PA) has announced.
Earlier, Israel tried to embarrass Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by suggesting that it does not interfere in the elections and holding them depends on Abbas himself.
Fatah Central Committee Member Hussein al-Sheikh said “the Israeli government has officially informed us that the Israeli position on holding elections in East Jerusalem remains negative.”
Sheikh stressed the party that must receive the official Israeli decision is the Palestinian National Authority.
The Israel Hayom newspaper and Walla website have reported that Tel Aviv will not interfere in the polls, and it informed European countries that it did not prevent the Palestinian elections from taking place in Jerusalem.
Head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s political department Alan Bar said in a meeting with 13 European ambassadors that Tel Aviv views the Palestinian elections an internal matter and will not intervene in the polls.
He claimed that Israel has not taken any official position on the elections in East Jerusalem, telling the ambassadors that it was up to Abbas to make the decision.
The statements consolidated the belief among Palestinian opposition and electoral blocs that Abbas has a desire to cancel the elections over disagreements within Fatah and the formation of alternative lists of the movement's leaders.
Member of Hamas politburo Mousa Abu Marzouk confirmed the movement’s rejection to postpone the elections under any pretext, warning any such move would affect the future of Palestinian reconciliation.
The official asserted Hamas’ position on holding the polls in Jerusalem, saying the justifications for postponement are “unrealistic.”
Nashaat al-Aqtash, the campaign manager of the independent Watan candidates, said the list “will not recognize the postponement.”
“The reason is that the president issued the election decree and no longer has the authority to issue decrees at this stage. It is now up to the election commission,” indicated Aqtash, who is also a media professor at Bir Zeit University.
Fatah media official Munir al-Jaghoub responded by saying that the Palestinian factions signed an agreement in Cairo that there would be no elections without Jerusalem.
Fatah argues that the matter is related to sovereign and legal issues, given that East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state.
A number of electoral lists sent a letter to Abbas, and another copy to the chairman of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (PCEC) Hanna Nasser, stressing the importance of implementing the presidential decree to hold legislative, presidential, and National Council elections on their specified dates.
They indicated that the elections are a long-awaited fundamental right that must be implemented for political and national reasons and a commitment to the popular demand of over 90 percent of the electorate.
The message stressed the importance of renewing the legitimacy of all Palestinian institutions to enable them to face the challenges that threaten the Palestinian cause.
Abbas is expected to hold a meeting with the factions to discuss the legislative elections, and he is anticipated to deliver a speech on Thursday announcing the postponement of the elections over the failure to hold them in Jerusalem.
