Hamas rejected on Sunday President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement to dissolve the Palestinian parliament and hold new elections within six months.
The Palestinian central electoral committee said it was prepared to hold the general polls.
Hamas however, criticized Abbas, saying his move “serves his partisan interests.”
Abbas said Saturday he intended to dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council after a court decision that ordered the move and elections to be held within six months.
The ruling was made by the Palestinian Constitutional Court in Ramallah, and Hamas said in a statement it rejected the decision by a court created by Abbas "to legitimize his arbitrary decisions".
"Abbas should have extended his hands to (Hamas leader Ismail) Haniya's invitation to hold a joint meeting, thereby ending the Palestinian division," the statement said.
"Rather, Abbas opted to ruin the Palestinian political system, maintain his unilateralism, and dissolve the legal institutions of the Palestinian people. All of this is just to serve his partisan interests."
It called on Egypt, which has been seeking to reconcile Hamas and Abbas's Fatah, to block the measure.
Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat said that the Constitutional Court’s decision is in line with the national council’s intention to establish a united Palestinian state.
He called for ending the current situation and achieving national reconciliation to “defeat the plot to impose the ‘deal of the century’ that seeks to establish a state in Gaza and autonomous rule in the West Bank.”
He explained that the PLO is seeking to establish a Palestinian state, “while Hamas wants to deepen the divide and turn it into separation.”
