Palestinian elections are looking likely, and may be spectacularly bad for Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Avi Issacharoff writes in the Times of Israel:
The Palestinian Authority could be heading toward its first parliamentary and presidential elections in 14 years, something that until recently was not seen even as a remote possibility, certainly not during Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s lifetime.
Since the 2005 Palestinian presidential elections and parliamentary elections a year later, talk of another vote that has popped up now and again has proved to be nothing but hollow slogans used by rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to posture against each other.
This time, though, sources in the West Bank and Gaza say that all signs indicate that Palestinian elections — first for parliament and then for the presidency — may actually take place as early as February 2020, after Abbas announced plans for a vote at the UN General Assembly in September.
Tuesday saw Palestinian Authority Central Elections Commission chief Hanna Nasser visit Gaza for the third time in as many weeks, for a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Nasser reportedly presented top Hamas officials with a memo by Abbas detailing various clarifications regarding the elections.
Fatah and Hamas officials sound increasingly optimistic that the vote will take place, though there are still quite a few hurdles to clear before Palestinians head to the polls, including one posed by Israel itself.