04 October 2016•Update: 04 October 2016
By Anees Bargouthi
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Palestinian government on Tuesday postponed local election for four months, one day after a court decision to hold the polls in Israel-occupied West Bank and not in Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the government said the decision to put off the vote was taken after consultations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It said the municipal polls, which were scheduled to be held on Oct. 8, will be held on the same day in all Palestinian territories.
Palestinian group Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, immediately rejected any postponement of the local election.
“The government decision is meant to evade conducting the election and serve the interests of the [rival] Fatah movement," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told a press conference.
On Monday, Ramallah’s High Court of Justice issued a decision to hold the local polls in the Israeli-occupied West Bank only and not the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Last month, the same court suspended the polls that would have seen Hamas and Fatah -- Palestine’s two main political movements -- directly compete for the first time in a decade.
The court ostensibly postponed the vote in order to examine complaints that the planned election would not cover Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, along with allegations that courts in the Gaza Strip "lacked legitimacy".
In the past, the Israeli authorities have consistently obstructed Palestinian polls from being held in East Jerusalem, which the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority views as the Palestinian capital.
