When Aziz Dweik and other elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) attempted Dec. 26 to reach the PLC in Ramallah to hold a press conference, Palestinian security forces stopped him and his entourage. Dweik, elected in January 2006 as speaker of the PLC, was told that he is no longer a member of the PLC, which was dissolved by the Palestinian Constitutional Court.

President Mahmoud Abbas made the announcement of the court decision during a meeting he had with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah Dec. 22. Commenting on the court decision, Abbas reportedly said that this decision must be “enforced immediately.” It is unclear when the court decision was actually made.

While the pro-Hamas speaker was trying to speak out against the decision to strip him from his powers, Ahmad Harb, a Hamas parliament member who was elected as deputy PLC speaker to Dweik, was meeting with some of the Gaza-based parliament members in Gaza Dec. 26.

Harb stressed his rejection of the court decision, which also called for new elections within six months. Harb has called the move to disband the PLC “a violation” of Palestinian Basic Law.