Last update - 00:00 19/08/2007
Haniyeh urges Abbas to hold early elections for PLO council
By DPA
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Saturday to hold early elections for the Palestinian Liberation Organization's legislative body, the Palestinian National Council (PNC). The call came in response to Abbas' threats to hold early PA parliamentary elections although Hamas still has two years of its Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) term to serve.
Haniyeh said Abbas' bid to hold early legislative elections "will not succeed without national understanding and without constitutional justification."
Abbas seeks early parliamentary elections to isolate Hamas after the group seized control of Gaza Strip in five days of fighting. Abbas sacked the Hamas-led coalition government in June following the Gaza takeover. Haniyeh insists he is still prime minister.
The deputy speaker of the Hamas-dominated parliament Saturday called on Abbas to form a new government with a new prime minister.
Ahmed Bahar of the PLC said that the current caretaker government, led by Salam Fayad, was illegitimate as it did not have the legal approval of parliament.
Abbas appointed Fayad in June. PA parliament has since failed to approve the new government owing to differences between Hamas and Fatah.
Bahar urged Abbas to respect political pluralism and to stop issuing decrees against Hamas. He also demanded that pro-Abbas forces stop their crackdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Bahar called for a professional committee to investigate the circumstances that surrounded the death of former PA president Yasser Arafat in 2004.
"The criminals and murderers and the circumstances must be revealed," he said.