Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) executive committee Saeb Erekat said the coming Palestinian government shall restore Gaza Strip and carry out general elections.
“We want from this government to work on holding general elections, do everything possible to restore Gaza Strip and end division and join efforts with other Palestinian parties to together impede the implementation of the Deal of the Century,” Erekat told a press conference in Ramallah.
He called on Hamas Movement to participate in the upcoming legislative elections, stressing that it was not possible to have a Palestinian State without Gaza.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with the head of the PA Central Elections Commission Hanna Nasser and asked him to go to Gaza, carry out an “honest dialogue” with Hamas and urge it to agree to parliamentary elections, Erekat explained.
He hoped that these attempts succeed and elections take place soon.
“We need to return to ballot boxes,” he said.
On the other hand, Erekat condemned Hamas’s questioning of Abbas’s legitimacy along with that of the PLO, the Executive Committee, the National Council, and the Palestinian factions.
He pointed out that while the Palestinian leadership decided to face the US-Israeli project aimed at gaining control over Jerusalem, Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Resurrection, former Legislative Council member Ahmed Bahr has sent a written letter to several countries questioning the President’s legitimacy.
“We have a Palestinian national project, represented by the PLO and the State of Palestine, to restore Palestine and put it again on the map, with Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.”
In return, stressed Erekat, there is a partisan project of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it has become even more important than the Palestinian cause.
“There is a call for holding general elections in the West Bank, including Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, and whoever rejects these elections and insists on the continuation of the coup in Gaza Strip has become a tool in the Deal of the Century, whether he likes it or not.”
Erekat did not talk about the Palestinian government’s structure, noting that what is more important is its program.
