Ramallah, West Bank: Palestinians will hold presidential and legislative elections by September, a top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Saturday, a surprise move apparently prompted by the political unrest spreading in the Arab world.
Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo did not give a firm date for elections, but said the chief Palestinian decision-making body, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was already making preparations.
"We call on parties to put aside all of their differences and to focus on conducting the elections by September at the latest," he told a news conference.
Hamas not to participate
However, Abbas' main political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas, said it would not participate.
Abed Rabbo spoke a day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in response to nearly three weeks of mass protests against his 30-year rule. The Egyptian protests and another successful revolt in Tunisia a month earlier have inspired calls for democratic reform throughout a region dominated by autocratic governments.
Palestinian elections were meant to be held last year, but the vote was put off because of the split between Abbas' government in the West Bank and the rival Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas rose to power in parliamentary elections in 2006, and a year later seized Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas' Fatah movement. Since then, both sides have resisted calls for new elections as repeated attempts to reconcile failed.
The Palestinians hope to turn Gaza and the West Bank, located on opposite sides of Israel, into an independent state, with east Jerusalem as their capital. The internal divisions are a major stumbling block to any future deal.
In Gaza, a a Hamas official said Saturday that they would not allow elections in the coastal strip.
"Hamas will not participate or recognise or give any cover for this election and we consider this announcement a conspiracy against the Palestinian people," said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
"Hamas believes in elections but elections can come only after (political) reconciliation."
Also on Saturday, Abbas' chief peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, announced his resignation.
Erekat resignation as a result of Al Jazeera leaks
Yasser Abed Rabbo the Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) , announced on Saturday that Dr. Erekat, submitted his resignation letter to the President Abbas.
Addressing a brief press conference following a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, Abed Rabbo said that Dr. Erekat submitted his resignation letter in the PLO meeting.
He said that the resignation of Dr. Erekat came in effect of the leak of the documents from the Negotiations Affairs Department which he heads in the PLO.
He added that following the leak, Al Jazeera has used those documents in an irrelevant way and published them.
Dr. Erekat had announced several times after the leaks that he would be personally responsible and bears all the responsibility if it was proved that the documents were leaked from the department that he heads.
Once the documents were published in Al Jazeera, the Central Committee of Fatah and the Executive Committee of the PLO held several meetings and set up a committee to investigate the leaks.
A senior Fatah official told Gulf News that the final meeting of the PLO was held after the situation started settling and relaxing in Egypt. The official said that the protests started in Egypt only a couple of days after the documents were published in Al Jazeera and this issue was put on hold for some time.
- With inputs from Nasouh Nazzal, Correspondent
