Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH — A senior Palestinian official Saturday revealed that some 300,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are not listed on the voter registration record since 2007. Hisham Kohail, the Executive Director of the Palestinian Central Election Committee (CEC), said that his voters' record includes 550,000 Palestinians who were recorded before Hamas movement took over the Gaza Strip. Kohail said that CEC's teams will arrive soon in the Gaza Strip to update the voters' record. The official said that besides him, CEC's head Hanna Nasser, and the committee's Director General Rami Al-Hamdallah will accompany the teams. He added that the teams will hold meetings before resuming the work. The official said that the “logistical and technical preparations for resuming the works in the Gaza Strip are ready.” The development comes a day after Salah Al-Bardawil, a Hamas leader and the spokesman of its parliamentary bloc, said that his movement allowed CEC to resume its works in the Gaza Strip. Al-Bardawil said that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh invited Nasser and his teams “to come to the Gaza Strip and update the voters' record.” He added that Haniyeh's invitation “was meant to implement the deal” Hamas and its rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement reached earlier this month in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. The Hamas official expressed hope the two movements “accelerate the implementation of the national reconciliation agreement to end the internal Palestinian split.” The split widened in 2007, when Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, routed forces loyal to Abbas and took over Gaza. Last July, CEC halted voters' registration process in the Gaza Strip over differences with Hamas. The committee said at the time that it decided to halt the process after Hamas decision to suspend the registration of voters in the Gaza Strip. Hamas said that it took the decision due to ongoing campaign by Palestinian Authority's security forces against its members and supporters in the West Bank and the “some obstacles.” The movement said that it was originally agreed to start voter registration in the Palestinian territories and abroad for the presidential and legislative elections as well as elections of the Palestinian National Council, parliament in exile. Representatives of Hamas and Fatah met recently to discuss a timetable and mechanisms for implementing Palestinian reconciliation agreements signed in Qatar's capital of Doha in 2012. According to the deal, signed by Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mish'al in the presence of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, a unified transitional government will be formed for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and be headed by Abbas. The deal also calls for holding elections of Palestinian National Council (the Palestinian parliament in exile), the reformation of Palestine Liberation Organization and the reformation of Palestinian security services in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
