Palestinian factions are discussing postponing legislative elections that had been planned for November, officials say.
A top official with the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group said the factions had reached an agreement to delay the vote, which is facing huge logistical issues in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and war-ravaged Gaza, as well as the long history of internal feuding among the Palestinians.
A spokesperson for Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, stopped short of confirming that a final decision had been reached.
But he said the election timing will be part of a "dialogue and national consensus" among the factions and that the potential postponement will be discussed by the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Abbas, 90, set November 28 as the date of parliamentary elections in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. If the elections proceeded on schedule, they would be the first polls in 20 years.
Abbas called off an attempt to hold an election in 2021.
Islamic Jihad deputy secretary-general Mohammed al-Hindi told The Associated Press that after meeting in Cairo, the factions "have reached understandings regarding the resumption of Palestinian national dialogue and agreed to postpone the upcoming Palestinian elections."
He said the Fatah delegation will return to Ramallah to finalise consultations.
Fatah spokesperson Abdel Fattah Dolah said the party wants elections to take place but is engaged in dialogue with the other factions on their timing, in light of calls for their postponement and "the difficult circumstances on the ground facing our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
Countries that back the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority have pushed for elections as part of broader reforms. In the past, Palestinian leaders have postponed elections at the eleventh hour, citing challenges including campaigning and voting in east Jerusalem. The logistics of voting in the Gaza Strip are even more complicated.
Failing to hold the elections could strain the Palestinian Authority's relations with donor countries that help fund it.
Key logistical issues for holding the vote in Gaza and east Jerusalem remain unresolved, and leading factions have not registered electoral slates, with the deadline for candidates less than a week away.
Basem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau, said the scheduled elections had been premature.
"Election is part of a democratic process, and it has to be built on a solid Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue to see how can we proceed forward in this conflict, and how to manage our internal disputes, and to offer, or how to present the Palestinians to the world with a united leadership, with a united vision," he said.
Naim said Hamas would support postponing the election if it would allow for such a dialogue to take place.
Without elections, the Palestinian Authority has gradually lost popularity in Gaza and the West Bank, where many Palestinians see it as ineffective, corrupt and acting as a subcontractor for Israel's decades-long occupation.
Hamas won a majority of seats in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council the last time elections were held in 2006. Israel and Western countries then boycotted its government, fuelling months of unrest that led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza the following year.
Australian Associated Press
