Palestinian Liberation Organization Secretary Yasser Abd Rabboh announced on Tuesday the indefinite postponement of Palestinian presidential elections. "We must be flexible about this in order to avoid divisions between the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza," he said.
On the same day, the PLO Central Council met to discuss a request by President Mahmoud Abbas to stay on until new elections are held. It is expected that the request will be approved.
In a related development, an opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Political Research Center found that 57 percent of Palestinians were against Abbas running in the new elections, while 36 percent supported his candidacy.
Abd Rabboh accused Hamas and the Israeli government of hindering the elections. "Israel does not want elections in Jerusalem so that it can claim it is not Palestinian territory," he said. "And Hamas does not want elections in Gaza, in order to obstruct the reconciliation process."
The head of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Heniya, said that Hamas will not accept any "unconstitutional" resolution of the PLO council.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
