Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced plans for parliamentary and presidential elections for the first time in about 15 years as Palestinians try to rebuild ties with President-elect Joe Biden after falling out with the Trump administration. .
The Palestinians have tried to hold elections several times over the past decade, but every effort has been made through challenges, including sharp divisions between Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that largely controls , below the knee. control Gaza.
Nevertheless, the decision that the 85-year-old Mr. Abbas, who is in the 16th year of a four-year term he won in 2005, issued Friday night, the farthest Palestinians legally to go to national elections within a decade and a half.
The Palestinian leader’s decision stipulated legislative elections for May 22 and presidential elections for July 31. The election for the Palestinian National Council, which represents Palestinians abroad, was scheduled for August 31.
The proposal is part of a broader effort to heal internal divisions within the Palestinian leadership. The issue of Palestinian unity has increasingly escalated for both Hamas and Fatah following the American treaty agreed by Abraham, which has been normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in Israel since September. The Palestinians have been relying on their Arab allies for decades to normalize relations with Israel until Israel has made peace with them.