Fatah, Hamas agree to hold Palestinian elections in coming months

Fatah and Hamas have agreed to hold pan-Palestinian elections in the coming months following reconciliation talks in Istanbul, Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad tells Anadolu News.

According to a statement by Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee official Wasil Abu Yousef, legislative elections will take place in the next six months.

Palestinian legislative elections have not been held since 2006, when a Hamas victory over Fatah lead to a bloody struggle for control of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since 2007.

Several similar announcements that Palestinians would return to the ballot box fizzled out over the past 13 years. Local municipal elections have been held in the West Bank three times; Hamas has largely boycotted the proceedings.

Al-Ahmad said that no elections would be held unless East Jerusalem Palestinians are allowed to participate — long a key demand of Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel bans the PA from operating inside Jerusalem, and has never agreed to previous Palestinian requests for East Jerusalemites to vote in PA elections.

— Aaron Boxerman