Palestinian factions move to delay the first legislative elections in 20 years

BEIRUT (AP) — Palestinian factions are discussing postponing legislative elections that had been planned for November, officials said Thursday.

A top official with the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group said the factions had reached an agreement to delay the vote, which is facing huge logistical issues in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and war-ravaged Gaza, as well as the long history of internal feuding among the Palestinians.

A spokesperson for Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, stopped short of confirming that a final decision had been reached. But he said the election timing will be part of a “dialogue and national consensus” among the factions and that the potential postponement will be discussed by the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Abbas has set Nov. 28 as the date of parliamentary elections in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. If the elections proceeded on schedule, they would be the first polls in 20 years.

Potential postponement comes after Cairo meetings

Islamic Jihad deputy secretary-general Mohammed al-Hindi said in a statement to The Associated Press that after meeting in Cairo, the factions “have reached understandings regarding the resumption of Palestinian national dialogue and agreed to postpone the upcoming Palestinian elections.”

He said that the Fatah delegation will return to Ramallah to finalize consultations.

Fatah spokesperson Abdel Fattah Dolah said the party wants elections to take place but is engaged in dialogue with the other factions on their timing, in light of calls for their postponement and “the difficult circumstances on the ground facing our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.” He described the discussions in Cairo as “very positive.”

Logistical and political issues could stall vote

Countries that back the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority have pushed for elections as part of broader reforms. In the past, Palestinian leaders have postponed elections at the eleventh hour, citing challenges including campaigning and voting in east Jerusalem. The logistics of voting in the Gaza Strip are even more complicated.

Failing to hold the elections could strain the Palestinian Authority’s relations with donor countries that help fund it.

Key logistical issues for holding the vote in Gaza and east Jerusalem remain unresolved, and leading factions have not registered electoral slates, with the deadline for candidates less than a week away.

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said the scheduled elections had been premature.

“Election is part of a democratic process, and it has to be built on a solid Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue to see how can we proceed forward in this conflict, and how to manage our internal disputes, and to offer, or how to present the Palestinians to the world with a united leadership, with a united vision,” he said.

Naim said Hamas would support postponing the election if it would allow for such a dialogue to take place.

A crisis of legitimacy for the Palestinian Authority

Without elections, the Palestinian Authority has gradually lost popularity in Gaza and the West Bank, where many Palestinians see it as ineffective, corrupt and acting as a subcontractor for Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Hamas won a majority of seats in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council the last time elections were held in 2006. Israel and Western countries then boycotted its government, fueling months of unrest that led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza the following year. Abbas dissolved the parliament in 2018 and postponed the most recent scheduled elections in 2021.

Not all factions are on board with delaying November’s vote. Helmi Al-Araj, a political bureau member with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small faction within the PLO, said that requiring consensus should not be used as an excuse to postpone elections that could “end rule by decree and by one individual.”

“Postponing the elections would cost the Palestinian Authority what remains of its credibility with its people and with the international community,” Al-Araj said.

An unlikely alliance

Ahead of November’s scheduled election, an unlikely alliance — which appeared to take aim at 90-year-old Abbas — had emerged between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a bloc led by Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief who was exiled in 2010 after a bitter falling-out with Abbas and had previously been driven from Gaza by Hamas. Dahlan has since cultivated close ties with the United Arab Emirates, which has relations with Israel and was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords.

He serves as an adviser to the UAE’s ruler and maintains extensive contacts with U.S. and Israeli officials, making him an unlikely ally for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have fought Israel for decades.

There have been multiple attempts over the years to bring Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the Fatah-led PLO, the highest body representing the Palestinian cause internationally, but all have foundered.

A main sticking point has been the PLO’s recognition of Israel. While Hamas officials have said they are willing to accept a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war — they have stopped short of recognizing Israel, while Islamic Jihad takes a harder line.

Both are considered terrorist groups by the U.S. and other Western countries, which have voiced support for Palestinian democracy over the years while rejecting any government that includes Hamas.

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Metz reported from Jerusalem.