BICOM

The Palestinian Authority yesterday announced the holding of council elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The elections had been due to be held last year. PA Spokesman Ghassan Khatib, announcing the decision of the PA Cabinet, stressed that the plan was to hold the elections in all the PA areas, but said that if Hamas refused to participate, polling would take place in the West Bank alone. Hamas leaders in Gaza, meanwhile, were swift to reject the PA decision. Movement spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that the PA had no right to call the election, and confirmed that Hamas’s stance remained that elections could take place only after Fatah and Hamas were reconciled. The last time elections were held in the PA areas was in 2005. Hamas performed well in these municipal elections, presaging the movement’s victory in elections to the Palestine Legislative Council in 2006.