Hamas calls for 'imposing' Jerusalem polls on Israel

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian group Hamas has called on the Palestinian Authority and rival Fatah movement to "impose" election in the occupied city of Jerusalem without Israel's approval.

"We don't accept to take permission from the [Israeli] occupation to hold election," Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil told a press conference in Gaza City on Wednesday.

"We [must] impose the polls and turn Jerusalem into a spot of political and popular engagement," he said.

The Hamas leader reiterated his group's refusal to hold Palestinian election without Jerusalem.

"We must agree on a national plan of action with the goal of holding election in Jerusalem," he said.

Hamas and Fatah have remained at odds since the former seized the Gaza Strip from the latter in mid-2007 after several days of street fighting.

In 2017, the two factions signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in hopes of ending years of animosity and division. Terms of the agreement, however, have never been implemented amid deep-seated differences between the two movements.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara