The Gaza Strip-based terrorist group Hamas and Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, announced Thursday that they have reached an agreement on holding Palestinian elections.
According to AFP, Palestinian officials confirmed that parliamentary and presidential elections are to be held in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.
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The decision was reportedly made after delegates representing Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks in Istanbul.
Other available reports on the matter do not provide an exact timeline for the elections but say Abbas is to issue a decree on the matter in the coming days.
The PA leader is slated to address the United Nations General Assembly; he is speculated to announce the elections there in a move that would largely mirror his announcement from last year's world summit.
Last year's initiative failed to produce any tangible results over the issue of collecting votes in east Jerusalem.
If things take a different turn with Thursday's agreement, this would be the first Palestinian parliamentary elections since 2006, when Hamas won in a surprise landslide.
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Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the Israel, US, Canada, the European Union and Egypt, ousted PA Abbas' Fatah-led government from Gaza in a military coup in 2007, effectively splitting the Palestinian areas into two political entities. All efforts made over the past decade to promote a reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions – the latest brokered by Egypt in late 2017 – have failed.
Previously agreements between Hamas and Fatah on holding elections have repeatedly faltered.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
