http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/world/middleeast/24mideast.html
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a decree on Friday for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on Jan. 24. The move resolved an immediate constitutional crisis, but created new complications and underscored the depth of the Palestinian political divide.
Hamas backers in Gaza burned posters of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, protesting his effort to delay action on a Gaza war report critical of Israel. He later reversed his decision.
Mr. Abbas, who leads Fatah, the mainstream nationalist party, had been hoping to put off the elections until June, to be held in the framework of an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement with the rival Islamic group Hamas. But Hamas has so far refused to sign the accord.
In the absence of an agreement, Mr. Abbas was obliged to call the election three months before the current Parliament ended its four-year term, as required by the Palestinian basic law.
The last parliamentary elections were held on Jan. 26, 2006, and were won by Hamas. The Islamic group went on to seize control of Gaza in mid-2007, routing pro-Fatah forces there and confining the power of Mr. Abbas and his Western-backed Palestinian Authority to the West Bank.
The decree issued by Mr. Abbas, who was elected to the presidency in 2005, specifies that the elections will be held in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. But it is highly unlikely that a vote can take place in Gaza without Hamas’s consent, and many Palestinians strongly oppose the idea of holding elections only in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“Elections are supposed to give legitimacy to the leadership,” said Qaddoura Fares, a Fatah leader in Ramallah who is a critical voice within the party. If elections take place only in part of the Palestinian territory, under a boycott by the opposition, “how can the president then stand up and say he represents all the Palestinian people?” Mr. Fares said.
Some Fatah representatives suggested that calling the election would increase pressure on Hamas to reach a deal with Fatah. “We will declare elections,” said Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah Central Committee member, in an interview in his Ramallah office hours before the presidential decree was issued, “but we will leave the door open for them to come.”
He added, “We pray day and night for a national reconciliation.” But he warned that “Hamas is playing with fire.”
Hamas reacted furiously to the elections decree, giving no hint of readiness for power sharing or of imminent reconciliation.
“Abbas has declared his end,” said Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
Ismail Ridwan, another Hamas leader in Gaza, said Mr. Abbas’s decree was “a blow to reconciliation efforts” and showed that Mr. Abbas “does not enjoy credibility and is not serious about ending the Palestinian division.”
Dimitri Diliani, a Fatah representative in Jerusalem, said there were technical solutions, like electronic voting, to get around a ban on elections in Gaza. “The geographical parameters of elections should not be held hostage by Hamas,” he said.
But it is far from clear that balloting will take place in any of the Palestinian areas in January. Others within Fatah raised the possibility that the Palestinian Election Commission would request a delay, ostensibly for technical reasons, giving Hamas, Fatah and the Egyptian brokers more time to reach an accord.
The talk of reconciliation has done little to diminish the hatred between Fatah and Hamas. The prospect of elections could either spur some semblance of Palestinian unity or make that prospect even more distant.
In the current venomous atmosphere, even if the two rivals were to sign a document, there would be widespread doubts about whether the practical steps it called for would be carried out.
Hamas recently whipped up public sentiment against Mr. Abbas after he agreed, under pressure from the United States, to delay action on a United Nations report detailing evidence of possible war crimes, mainly by Israel but also by Hamas.
Protesters in Gaza threw shoes at posters of Mr. Abbas that branded him a traitor, before Mr. Abbas reversed himself and pressed for the report to be endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council last week.
Muhammad Dahlan, a former Fatah strongman in Gaza and an old nemesis of Hamas, called a news conference for the Arabic news media at his new headquarters in Ramallah earlier this week. Reflecting the abiding acrimony, he accused Hamas of foiling Egypt’s efforts for reconciliation, of “inciting to kill” Mr. Abbas and of trying to create chaos in the West Bank.
Taghreed El-Khodary contributed reporting from Gaza.
More Articles in World » A version of this article appeared in print on October 24, 2009, on page A8 of the New York edition.
