Abbas is Using Jerusalem and Prisoners case to Delay Elections
“A message sent by number of Fatah prisoners calling to cancel the parliamentary elections” this came after a member of the Fatah Central Committee affiliated with the President Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas, said political sources close to the leader of the Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouthi, who is competing the official movement’s list in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections
added, the PA president seeks to use the prisoners and Jerusalem to reduce the reaction of cancellation the elections, pointing that other “Fatah” prisoners refused to sign this letter.
Threats and pressures on prisoners
According to the sources, there was contacts between the Central Committee of Fatah and a number of prisoners of the movement included threats and pressures to push them to issue this statement, which seemed as starting point for “Fatah” and “Central” movement, to cancel the elections, especially since the polls makes the official Fatah list into a political minority, the lists competing with it obtain a greater number of seats in the Legislative Council.
After announcing prisoners ’message’ many meetings held inside Fatah to cancel the elections, starting with PLO factions, except the Popular and Democratic Fronts, they ended the meeting with a statement calling for the elections to be postponed because the occupation prevented them from participating in occupied Jerusalem and two other meetings for the« Executive Committee of the Liberation Organization And “Fatah centralization”, to discuss the postponement.
Also, Ramallah is trying to convince Arabs and the European Union of the necessity to postpone elections, the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs will make a European tour this week for this purpose.
According to the same sources “Washington has not taken a clear design about the elections yet.
“Walla” Hebrew website pointed that Biden administration and the Israeli government have “great concerns about a possible victory for Hamas, but both sides didn’t announce it, to not be accused of thwarting the elections.”
After guarantee the American administration position, Ramallah began its steps to bypass the obstacles of the European Union, which still insists on holding elections as a condition for renewing financial support for the Authority. In this context, President Mahmoud Abbas sent his Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on a tour to European capitals to “inform their officials about; last elections updates, the obstacles to the occupation that may hinder their conduct, especially in Jerusalem.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, in a statement, that the meetings will begin Monday, in Brussels, with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Minister Joseph Borrell, “to put the international community, the European Union and all countries to ensure the holding of the Palestinian legislative elections.”
Pointing the possibility of canceling the elections, the statement said that Al-Maliki “will confirm during his meetings that holding elections in Jerusalem is a red line that cannot be crossed.”
In addition, the “Election Cases Court” yesterday rejected 18 appeals filed by “Fatah” against accepting the candidacy of lists and candidates, which dealt with issues related to their places of residence, the condition for submitting their resignations, and financing the election campaign.
