Hamas slams cancelling Palestinian elections

Fatah and the PA leadership bears full responsibility for this decision and its repercussions, which is considered as a coup against national partnership and consensuses; the Palestinian national situation and popular and national consensus should not be confined to the agenda of a single faction, Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said in a statement.

Palestinian citizens of Al-Quds have proved themselves to be able to impose their will on the Israeli occupation and they are capable of forcing the Israeli occupation to accept holding the Palestinian elections in the holy city just as we explained in a previous statement on April 28, Hamas added.

Hamas has boycotted the meeting headed by Abbas because it already knew that Fatah and the PA were planning to announce cancelling the Palestinian elections under other grounds that has nothing to do with Al-Quds.

In a phone call on Thursday, we explained to the Fatah leadership that we were ready to take part in the meeting if it was intended to discuss how to oblige the Israeli occupation to allow holding the Palestinian elections in Al-Quds, the statement reads.

“Thus, we decided to boycott the meeting out of respect for the Palestinian people –the vast majority of whom registered for the elections– and thousands of candidates looking forward to exercising their political rights, representing their people and defending them”, Hamas noted.

“We took this move so that our participation will not be used as a cover-up for undermining this national end that has long been awaited by our Palestinian people”.

Hamas also said in the statement that hailing the Al-Quds intifada by the PA president should have been used as a basis to defy the Israeli occupation by holding the Palestinian vote in Jerusalem without prior permission from it.

Hamas also vehemently condemns the false and baseless claims made by Abbas against it in his final statement.

Hamas will remain committed to defending the Palestinian people and their rights to choose their representatives, calling on Palestinian factions and political and civil parties to set up a national roadmap to end monopolism, achieve national unity on true and solid basses that guarantee accomplishing an inclusive political reform and dedicate all efforts towards resisting the Israeli occupation and involve in battles with it at all levels, the statement reads.