Egypt has invited leaders of Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo in a renewed bid for reconciliation, after legislative elections scheduled for next month were postponed by President Mahmoud Abbas, sources told The National on Sunday.
The meeting proposed for next week will be the latest in a long-running series of attempts to narrow the gap between Palestinian factions divided over policies, ideology and the way forward for Palestine.
The sources said Khalil Al Haya, the political leader of Hamas, and Mohammed Dahlan, who leads a pro-reform faction within Fatah, the main group in the Palestinian Authority, were among those invited by the Egyptians.
As is customary, there has been no official announcement by the Egyptian government on the proposed meeting.
Mr Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, announced on Saturday that the vote would be postponed until September next year, when the presidential election is also due to take place.
Sources from various factions have told The National the delay was primarily intended to address what has been described as “Palestinian divisions” before the elections take place.
The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation has approved the postponement. It said the delay was due to the lack of security in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
The last election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, or parliament, was held in 2006 and won by Hamas, triggering a split between the group and Fatah, the dominant faction in the PA. Mr Abbas, who is also Fatah's leader, has remained in office 17 years beyond the end of his original term.
The deeply unpopular Mr Abbas, who is 90, has been ruling by decree amid growing discontent over his policies and reports of widespread corruption.
An opinion poll run by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research in August found 79 per cent of the 1,270 people surveyed wanted him to step down.
Egypt has been trying to reconcile Palestinian factions for years, without success. Its efforts have been led by officials from its spy agency who have taken responsibility for key foreign policy files over the years, traditionally handled by the Foreign Ministry.
Hamas described the postponement as a “step in the right direction,” saying political and security conditions were not suitable for holding a free election. The delay, its statement said, “must lead to a serious, fruitful and comprehensive national dialogue”.
However, Mr Dahlan's pro-reform faction responded to Mr Abbas's decision in markedly different terms. It said the postponement was an “attack on democracy” and a threat to younger generations of Palestinians, who have been deprived of their right to choose their representatives.
“The absence of elections deepens the crisis of legitimacy and weakens the Palestinian domestic front,” it said in a statement on Saturday. “The leadership [Abbas] is enshrining fiscal, political and administrative corruption, and pushes institutions away from the national track.”
The group also called for broad dialogue between Palestinian factions to establish a “popular front” capable of exerting pressure.
