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Israel, Jordan and PA agree: Palestinian elections would be a disaster

Palestinian Authority elections would mean the rise of Hamas.

By World Israel News Staff

Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority don’t agree on much, but they do agree that Palestinian elections would mean the rise of Hamas in Judea and Samaria, Israel Hayom reports on Wednesday.

“Between Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman there is complete consensus and rare agreement that arranging elections for the parliament and Palestinian presidency in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] declared in his U.N. speech last month…

“‘Will bring about the victory of Hamas over Fatah and the control by the organization over the rule of the Palestinian Authority with the swift and brutal ousting of Fatah people from all the ruling institutions, government authorities and security and intelligence apparatus of the Palestinian Authority.'”

Israel Hayom reports that senior PA officials say that recent polls show that if elections were held for the Palestinian parliament, Hamas would beat Fatah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah would best Mahmoud Abbas in presidential elections.

The last time elections were held in the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria – in 2006 – Hamas won a majority. Fatah and the international community refused to recognize the results and boycotted Hamas.  Abbas built up his own power base in Ramallah.

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According to Israel Hayom, the ‘Arab street’ is angry at Abbas and Fatah, blaming them for the lack of reconciliation between the two sides.

The newspaper says the reasons is that eight Palestinian organizations from Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip developed a plan of reconciliation which Abbas rejected but Haniyeh accepted. Therefore, Abbas is blamed for the continued hostility.

Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA’s General Authority of Civil Affairs, said “We don’t reject any initiative of reconciliation. The initiative put together by the organizations was a waste of time and deepened divides. It would have only widened the split in Palestinian society.”

But a senior PA official told Israel Hayom in response to al-Sheikh’s comments, “General elections in the Palestinian Authority won’t happen, especially so long as Abu Mazen is there.”