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Palestinian Parliamentary Elections Delayed, Says Abbas, Blaming Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting with Palestinian factions, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 3, 2020. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting with Palestinian factions, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 3, 2020. (Reuters)
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Palestinian Parliamentary Elections Delayed, Says Abbas, Blaming Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting with Palestinian factions, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 3, 2020. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting with Palestinian factions, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 3, 2020. (Reuters)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday postponed planned parliamentary elections amid a dispute over voting in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and splits in his Fatah party.

Abbas, 85, blamed Israel for uncertainty about whether it would allow the legislative election to proceed in Jerusalem as well as in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The decision came three months after he announced the first national elections for 15 years.

The outcome of an election could be gains for Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. Abbas's chief domestic rival, Hamas is regarded as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European Union but fought a campaign to defeat a similarly divided Fatah in 2006.

The dispute over Jerusalem was the principal reason cited by Abbas in a speech early Friday following a meeting of Palestinian political factions.

"Facing this difficult situation, we decided to postpone the date of holding legislative elections until the participation of Jerusalem and its people is guaranteed," Abbas said in the speech on Palestinian TV.

The delay of the parliamentary elections set for May is likely to draw intense domestic criticism, with Abbas and his allies weakened by challengers from within his own divided Fatah party.

It was not immediately clear whether a presidential vote scheduled for July would go ahead.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commission said it was suspending the election process following Abbas's decision. The election campaign was supposed to begin on Friday.

Protesters in Gaza and the West Bank called for the elections to proceed as scheduled - for many it would be their first election.

"As a young Palestinian citizen, I call for conducting elections, and I want my right to elect so I would see new faces, young faces, and see new political stances," said Wael Deys, from Hebron.

Hamas criticized the reversal.

"We reject this decision which violates the national consensus, and Fatah movement bears responsibility for the consequences of this position," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Abbas had hinted at the delay for weeks by claiming that Israel had not agreed to permit East Jerusalem Palestinians to vote in the city.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier this week that there had been no formal Israeli announcement on whether it would allow Palestinian voting in Jerusalem - as it did during the last elections in 2006 - and Israeli officials said on Thursday that there had been no change.

But many Palestinians regard the Jerusalem issue as an excuse to avoid elections that a divided Fatah might well lose to Hamas.

Party divided
Internal divisions surfaced in Abbas's Fatah party when jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Nasser Al-Qudwa - a nephew of the party's late founder Yasser Arafat - announced a rival slate of candidates to run against Abbas's official lineup.

Nevertheless, election preparations were well under way, with thousands of new voters and three dozen party lists registered.

"The delay will cause a great disappointment among Palestinians, who most of them hoped it was time to end the divisions and bring about a change," said Gaza analyst Talal Okal.

Abbas has been in power since 2005 and has ruled by decree for over a decade.

The timing of his election announcement was seen as aimed at repairing ties with US President Joe Biden after they plummeted under predecessor Donald Trump.

But analysts say that with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict low on Biden's priority list, Washington prefers to avoid elections that could empower Hamas and anger Israel as US officials press ahead on nuclear talks with Iran.

Israel has been making it clear that it prefers an election delay, fearing its coordination with Abbas's security forces in the West Bank would be undermined by the vote, said Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution.

"(To) the extent that Biden was prepared to confront Israel, his top priority has been the Iran nuclear deal," Telhami said, adding that, among other factors, "this appeared to have weighed in on the Biden administration, with reduced enthusiasm for the election."

State Department Spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday: “The exercise of democratic elections is a matter for the Palestinian people and for the Palestinian leadership to determine.”

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Arab World

UN: Israeli Measure in West Bank is ‘Unlawful,’ Erodes Two-State Solution

Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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UN: Israeli Measure in West Bank is ‘Unlawful,’ Erodes Two-State Solution

Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian men sit on the rubble as others console each other after a Palestinian home was demolished by the Israeli army in the village of Shuqba, west of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday voiced grave concern over the reported decision by the Israeli security cabinet to authorize a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B in the occupied West Bank, warning that such measure erodes the prospect for the two-State solution.

“Such actions, including Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are not only destabilizing but – as recalled by the International Court of Justice – unlawful,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Guterres reiterated that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and their associated regime and infrastructure, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law, including relevant UN resolutions.

The Secretary-General called on Israel to reverse the measures. He also urged all parties “to preserve the only path to lasting peace, a negotiated two-State solution, in line with relevant Security Council resolutions and international law.”

On Sunday, the Ynet news website revealed that the Israeli cabinet is advancing a series of dramatic decisions aimed at deepening Israel’s de facto annexation of parts of the West Bank.

It said the measures, advanced by ministers Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, are expected to bring far-reaching changes to land registration and property acquisition procedures in the West Bank, enabling the state to demolish Palestinian-owned buildings in Area A.

The decisions are also expected to significantly expand Jewish settlement across the West Bank.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Presidency strongly denounced the dangerous decisions approved by the Israeli cabinet aimed at deepening attempts to annex the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

The Presidency considered the decisions “a continuation of the comprehensive war waged by the Israeli government against Palestinians, and an unprecedented escalation targeting the Palestinian presence and its national and historical rights throughout the Palestinian territory, especially in the occupied West Bank.”

It warned of the grave implications of these decisions, which represent the practical implementation of annexation and displacement plans.

“These decisions also violate all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, as well as international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, and constitute a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords and the Hebron Agreement,” the Presidency said.

 

 

Arab World

Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Hanadi Abu Zant hasn’t been able to pay rent on her apartment in the occupied West Bank for nearly a year after losing her permit to work inside Israel. When her landlord calls the police on her, she hides in a mosque.

“My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

She is among some 100,000 Palestinians whose work permits were revoked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Confined to the occupied territory, where jobs are scarce and wages far lower, they face dwindling and dangerous options as the economic crisis deepens, The Associated Press said.

Some have sold their belongings or gone into debt as they try to pay for food, electricity and school expenses for their children. Others have paid steep fees for black-market permits or tried to sneak into Israel, risking arrest or worse if they are mistaken for militants.

Israel, which has controlled the West Bank for nearly six decades, says it is under no obligation to allow Palestinians to enter for work and makes such decisions based on security considerations. Thousands of Palestinians are still allowed to work in scores of Jewish settlements across the West Bank, built on land they want for a future state.

Risk of collapse

The World Bank has warned that the West Bank economy is at risk of collapse because of Israel’s restrictions. By the end of last year, unemployment had surged to nearly 30% compared with around 12% before the war, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Before the war, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked inside Israel, mainly in construction and service jobs. Wages can be more than double those in the landlocked West Bank, where decades of Israeli checkpoints, land seizures and other restrictions have weighed heavily on the economy. Palestinians also blame the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the territory, for not doing enough to create jobs.

About 100,000 Palestinians had work permits that were revoked after the outbreak of the war. Israel has since reinstated fewer than 10,000, according to Gisha, an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian freedom of movement.

Wages earned in Israel injected some $4 billion into the Palestinian economy in 2022, according to the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. That’s equivalent to about two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority's budget that year.

An Israeli official said Palestinians do not have an inherent right to enter Israel, and that permits are subject to security considerations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with over 500,000 Israeli settlers who can come and go freely.

The war in Gaza has brought a spike in Palestinian attacks on Israelis as well as settler violence. Military operations that Israel says are aimed at dismantling militant groups have caused heavy damage in the West Bank and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

‘My refrigerator, it’s empty’

After her husband left her five years ago, Abu Zant secured a job at a food-packing plant in Israel that paid around $1,400 a month, enough to support her four children. When the war erupted, she thought the ban would only last a few months. She baked pastries for friends to scrape by.

Hasan Joma, who ran a business in Tulkarem before the war helping people find work in Israel, said Palestinian brokers are charging more than triple the price for a permit.

While there are no definite figures, tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be working illegally in Israel, according to Esteban Klor, professor of economics at Israel's Hebrew University and a senior researcher at the INSS. Some risk their lives trying to cross Israel’s separation barrier, which consists of 9-meter high (30-foot) concrete walls, fences and closed military roads.

Shuhrat Barghouthi’s husband has spent five months in prison for trying to climb the barrier to enter Israel for work, she said. Before the war, the couple worked in Israel earning a combined $5,700 a month. Now they are both unemployed and around $14,000 in debt.

“Come and see my refrigerator, it’s empty, there’s nothing to feed my children,” she said. She can’t afford to heat her apartment, where she hasn’t paid rent in two years. She says her children are often sick and frequently go to bed hungry.

Sometimes she returns home to see her belongings strewn in the street by the landlord, who has been trying to evict them.

Forced to work in settlements

Of the roughly 48,000 Palestinians who worked in Israeli settlements before the war, more than 65% have kept their permits, according to Gisha. The Palestinians and most of the international community view the settlements, which have rapidly expanded in recent years, as illegal.

Israeli officials did not respond to questions about why more Palestinians are permitted to work in the settlements.

Palestinians employed in the settlements, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, say their employers have beefed up security since the start of the war and are far more willing to fire anyone stepping out of line, knowing there are plenty more desperate for work.

Two Palestinians working in the Mishor Adumim settlement said security guards look through workers’ phones and revoke their permits arbitrarily.

Israelis have turned to foreign workers to fill jobs held by Palestinians, but some say it’s a poor substitute because they cost more and do not know the language. Palestinians speak Arabic, but those who work in Israel are often fluent in Hebrew.

Raphael Dadush, an Israeli developer, said the permit crackdown has resulted in costly delays.

Before the war, Palestinians made up more than half his workforce. He’s tried to replace them with Chinese workers but says it’s not exactly the same. He understands the government’s decision, but says it’s time to find a way for Palestinians to return that ensures Israel’s security.

Assaf Adiv, the executive director of an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian labor rights, says there has to be some economic integration or there will be “chaos.”

“The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation,” he said.

Arab World

Damascus Govt Takes Over Control of Rmeilan Field, Says Syria's Oil Belongs to All

A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Damascus Govt Takes Over Control of Rmeilan Field, Says Syria's Oil Belongs to All

A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)

The Damascus government kicked off on Monday measures to assume control of the Rmeilan oil field, Syria's second largest, in the northeastern Hasakah province.

The move took place after it took over Qamishli airport in line with an agreement with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that was reached on January 29.

A Syrian Petroleum Company delegation visited Hasakah oil fields on Monday as part of the process to bring the Rmeilan and Sweidiyeh fields back under state administration, reported the official news agency SANA.

The delegation, accompanied by Hasakah’s Internal Security chief Marwan al‑Ali, met field managers and held a brief press conference addressing questions on future operations, fuel prices once production resumes, and whether part of the revenues could support the local area.

The Company vowed that Syria's oil "belongs to everyone" and that workers at the Rmeilan field will keep their jobs. Security at the field will be handled by guards from the region.

The team toured al‑Awda field in rural Qamishli to assess conditions and hear from workers. Deputy CEO Walid al‑Youssef said several agreements are already in place to support the oil and gas sector and improve infrastructure in Rmeilan. He noted that the current staff will remain in their positions with salary increases, reported SANA.

The Company officials said the visit aims to establish direct communication with technical teams as preparations begin for the handover.

Hasakah Fields Director Dhiab Khalif described the visit as successful, noting that while most fields are in good condition, some require maintenance. Upcoming steps include agreeing on production levels and boosting output to improve energy supply.

The Syrian Petroleum Company recently began pumping raw gas from the Jibseh fields in Hasakah to the Furqlus gas plant in Homs, part of efforts to increase national production and support electricity generation.