Hamas and Fatah Postpone Elections To Hold Them Simultaneously in Both Regions

Fatah and Hamas Reconciliation (asianews.it)

Hamas and Fatah have agreed on Thursday to hold simultaneous municipal polls after agreeing to postpone elections date, a Palestinian official announced.

The decision comes after the two movements that had been in conflict for years agreed to a reconciliation statement and decided to do together what is best for Palestinians.

The decision to come to terms was praised by the Palestinians but was deemed by Israeli PM as a victory of terrorism and a setback for peace talks.

Fatah and Hamas (asianews.it)

The President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, said in turn that the guilt for the stalemate of peace talks lies with the Israelis and that they had a simple choice: peace over settlements.

The reason why Hamas, considered by international community a terrorist organization, accepted this agreement, after having blamed Abbas for his attitude towards Israel, is that the movement had to change its policies as a result of the way things evolve in Syria, where the military is trying to contain the unrest as the death toll raises every day.

Azzam al-Ahmed, Fatah official, said that the movement he represents agreed to ask the technocratic government they will form with Hamas according to the Cairo agreement to postpone elections so that they may be organized simultaneously both in Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Because of the past split between Hamas and Fatah, elections were called by Fatah for July only in the West Bank and East Jerusalem they control, while in Gaza Strip they had been rejected by the leaders of Hamas.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commissions said that the elections in West Bank can be held in July, but that it would take more time to organize them in Gaza Strip.