Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday said that the holding of general elections in Palestinian territories is the real solution to the reconciliation between Palestinian factions. “Hamas must allow the (Palestinian) Central Elections Committee (CEC) to resume its work in the Gaza Strip to prepare for presidential, legislative and National Council elections,” Abbas said during a meeting of his Fatah's Revolutionary Council, the movement's decision-making body, at the at the Presidential compound of Al-Muqata'a in Ramallah. The split widened in 2007, when Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, routed forces loyal to Abbas and took over the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian president said that the resumption of CEC's work in the Gaza Strip will allow the Palestinians factions to resume the reconciliation which is an urgent Palestinian national obligation. Abbas said that the rival Fatah and Hamas movements agreed in Doha and Cairo to hold general elections. According to the deal, Hamas and rival Fatah movement agreed to hold the elections together and register voters in the Palestinian territories and abroad, and to form national unity government. On July, the committee announced the halting of voters' registration process in the Gaza Strip after Hamas decision to suspend the registration of voters in the coastal enclave. Hamas said that it was originally agreed to start voter registration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and abroad for the presidential and legislative elections as well as elections of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian parliament in exile. “Hamas was surprised that registration of voters was only for the Palestinian Authority elections, and this is a clear contradiction with the agreement reached in Cairo”, Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said at the time. Hamas and Fatah have pledged to work hard to end their differences in the aftermath of Israeli aggression and the UN General Assembly vote in favor of upgrading the Palestinians' status to nonmember observer state.
