Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated Thursday in his opening remarks at a meeting of faction leaders in Ramallah, “There will be no elections without Jerusalem.”
Which means that Abbas is once again insisting the Palestinian Authority cannot hold elections due to Israel’s “intransigence.”
Abbas announced at the meeting that Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority that PA elections cannot be held in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city.
Abbas has repeatedly used the same excuse of not being able to include Arab residents in Palestinian Authority elections for the delay and ultimate postponement of elections set for representatives to the Palestinian Legislative Council on May 22 and for the PA presidency on July 31.
This year the PA elections were set as part of an agreement reached under the auspices of Egypt after months of negotiations between Fatah and Hamas, but also with 12 other factions.
This time, however, Abbas prevaricated instead of simply stating the obvious: he tossed the ball back to Israel, but claimed the Palestinian Authority had been informed that Israel cannot decide regarding the matter because at present there is no government in Israel.
“Today we received a message from Israel, the US and some Arab countries about Israel’s opposition to holding the elections in Jerusalem. The message we received said that Israel cannot make a decision because there is no government in Israel,” Abbas said.
“This is nonsense. Where is [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu? Netanyahu, may God prolong his life, is still the prime minister,” he said.
The PA leader added that he had spoken to officials from the European Union, who expressed “frustration” at not being able to convince Israel to allow the Palestinian Authority to hold its election in the Israeli capital city. He also said he had turned to “the Americans” but received no response.
Representatives of Hamas were not present at the meeting because they were invited only “at the last minute,” according to a spokesperson for the Hamas electoral list “Jerusalem is Our Destiny.” The position of Hamas is clear, said Mohammed Subha: “We reject the postponement of the elections and we will not provide a cover for such a decision.”
A spokesperson for the ‘Future’ list headed by supporters of former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan said 25 electoral lists running in the May 22 elections opposed the cancellation of the vote. “Only those who are afraid of the results don’t want elections,” she said.
The electoral lists issued a joint statement warning such a cancellation would be a “constitutional crime,” predicting it will have “dire effects and serious consequences on the Palestinian people.”