Abbas mulls option of postponing Palestinian elections
Al-Monitor has learned that President Mahmoud Abbas is getting ready to postpone the Palestinian general elections under the pretext of Israel’s yet to be announced reponse to a request to allow Palestinians in Jerusalem to vote.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A high-ranking source in the Palestinian presidency told Al-Monitor that President Mahmoud Abbas is leaning toward postponing the release of a presidential decree that would determine the time frame of holding Palestinian general elections (legislative and presidential) until further notice. This came after Israel’s irresponsiveness to the Palestinian request to allow the elections to be held in Jerusalem, which might jeopardize the whole process.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) sent an official letter to the Israeli government Dec. 10 asking it to allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in the general elections, after the Palestinian government announced Nov. 14 reaching Palestinian consensus to hold them. Israel has not responded to the Palestinian request until now.
The 1995 Oslo II Accord states that Palestinians in Jerusalem have the right to participate in Palestinian elections, provided that Israel makes arrangements to implement this step.
The presidential source reported that Abbas asked the European Union (EU) and Russia to pressure Israel to allow holding elections in Jerusalem and giving Palestinians there the right to vote, like it was the case in 1996, 2005 and 2006.
