Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, have reached an agreement to hold elections in Palestine within six months, according to officials from both parties.
The agreement specifically stipulates that parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the Palestinian Territories, for the first time in almost 15 years.
“We have reached an agreement to hold parliamentary elections first, then to elect a president of the Palestinian Authority and then to elect the central council of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO)”, high-ranking official of Fatah Jibril Rajub told AFP.
Saleh al-Aruri, a member of the Islamist Hamas faction, confirmed that the agreement was reached during contacts between Fatah and Hamas members in Turkey.
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“This time we came to a real unanimity (…) the divisions hurt our straggle and we are working to put an end to it”, Aruri said in a telephone interview.
The two largest Palestinian factions recently launched a dialogue in the hope that they would join forces to fight against the normalization of Israel’s relations with Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Rajub said President Abbas would issue a decree setting the date for the election.
