Palestinian factions slam verdict dissolving parliament

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian factions have decried a Constitutional Court ruling dissolving the Hamas-led parliament.

On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to implement the court ruling dissolving the parliament and holding new parliamentary elections within six months.

In a statement on Sunday, Islamic Jihad group described the verdict as “catastrophic”.

Group spokesman Mosab al-Berem underlined the necessity "not to mix legal matters with political ones".

“National unity should be achieved on the basis of partnership and internal harmony to stand against the [Israeli] occupation,” he said.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine described the motion as a "political decision that would add new obstacles to efforts for the Palestinian reconciliation".

This would bring the "division to a new level that could complicate the domestic affairs even more, and drag the Palestinian arena into a struggle over legitimacy."

The group called on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority not to apply the court decision and focus instead on the implementation of the reconciliation deals”.

The Palestinian National Initiative also warned that the verdict “would drag the Palestinians into the trap of the Oslo accords (signed with Israel in 1993) of the self-rule which the Palestinian people and its leadership have overridden successfully”.

The decision is "a flagrant violation of Article 47 of the Palestinian Basic Law which states that the Legislative Council's term is only terminated when members of the newly elected assembly are sworn in."

Also, the Popular Resistance Committees rejected the verdict, saying in a statement that such a move would "deepen the Palestinian division."

Hamas has earlier decried the court decision, saying the verdict has “no constitutional or legal value”.

In 2006, Hamas won the majority of votes in the parliamentary polls, however; the legislative process was disrupted after the Palestinian rift in 2007, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.

Since then, a rift has prevailed between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah group despite mediation efforts for rapprochement.

Although the Palestinian Basic Law calls for holding parliamentary elections every four years, no vote was held since 2006.