Israel and the US asked Abbas to delay or cancel the Palestinian elections – report

The request came in light of growing schism in Abbas’s governing faction, Fatah, and fears that Hamas will win the parliamentary election, scheduled for May 22, Palestinian sources told Khabar.

The elections were necessary to unite the Palestinians and end the dispute between Fatah and Hamas, Abbas told Israel and the United States, according to sources.

Abbas has no plans to delay or cancel the elections, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post. The official declined to comment on the report on a request from Israel and the United States to postpone or cancel the elections.

The Fatah crisis peaked on March 11, when Abbas expelled Nasser al-Kidwa from the faction. The action came after Kidwa, nephew of former PLO President Yasser Arafat and former AP Foreign Minister, announced his intention to form his own list to contest the parliamentary election, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

Kidwa, 67, is a veteran member of the Fatah Central Committee, the faction’s top decision-making body, headed by Abbas.

Abbas also decided to suspend funding from the Yasser Arafat Foundation, a non-profit organization headed by Kidwa.

Abbas accused Kidwa of violating Fatah’s internal regulations by forming a separate list to run for election.

The decision to fire Kidwa drew harsh criticism from some Fatah officials, who warned that Abbas was trying to expel his critics from the faction before the elections.

Kidwa is said to be supported by Fatah leader prisoners Marwan Barghouti and Mohammad Dahlan, an Abbas archrival based in the United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirates).

Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada, is considering running for the AP presidency, according to Hatem Abdel Qader, a senior Fatah official in East Jerusalem.

Dahlan’s supporters announced their intention to participate in the PLC election. Dahlan was expelled from Fatah in 2011 after a fight with Abbas. Since then, he has lived in the United Arab Emirates, where he leads a party called the Democratic Reform Chain.

Meanwhile, Salah al-Bardawil said his group’s chances of winning a victory in the next PLC election were “strong”.

Hamas has nothing to do with internal Fatah disputes, he said.

“Hamas is not going to exploit the disputes in Fatah,” Bardawil told Palestinian reporters in the Gaza Strip. “These are personal disputes, and Hamas is not part of them.”

Despite the fighting, all Fatah leaders continue to believe in the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 between Israel and the PLO, he said.

“Hamas will not support Mahmoud Abbas or Marwan Barghouti in the presidential election,” said Bardawil.

Asked whether Hamas would run in the parliamentary elections alongside Fatah, he said he would agree to such a move on condition that other factions be included.

“If that cannot be achieved, Hamas will run in the elections with its own list,” said Bardawil. “After the parliamentary election, Hamas will work to form a Palestinian government of national unity that would end the division [between the West Bank and Gaza Strip]. “