Palestinian Territories: Fatah and Hamas announce elections within six months

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, September 3, 2020. Alaa Badarneh / Pool via Reuters

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Palestinian elections will be held within six months.

This was announced Wednesday, September 23, the two main Palestinian factions: the Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas, and the Islamist Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

This is not the first time that such an announcement has been made, but has no effect so far.

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Can the Palestinian enemy brothers organize elections together, and thus end their political and territorial divisions?

In the occupied Palestinian territories, the last presidential election dates back to 2005. It was then

.

The following year, the Islamists of Hamas won the legislative elections.

The rift then arose when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

An agreement tied up in Turkey

Since then, the two factions have repeatedly announced their reconciliation, but it has never materialized.

This week, Fatah-Hamas talks took place in Turkey.

The two Palestinian parties assure that their voters will go to the polls within six months.

In addition to legislative and presidential elections, Palestinian political leaders say elections will also be held for the Central Council of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).

This announcement comes in a particular context, since the Palestinian national movement has just suffered a

with the normalization of relations between

 : the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

A gesture that isolates and further weakens the Palestinian cause.

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• Palestinian territories

• Mahmoud Abbas

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