CAIRO: Leaders of rival Palestinian factions have agreed to press ahead with elections this year after two days of Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo.
President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas agreed that only Palestinian police would secure the elections headquarters in the West Bank and Gaza during the poll.
They said they had agreed a timeline for the polls and “committed to respecting and accepting their results.”
The deal provides for an “electoral court” with exclusive jurisdiction over the electoral process and any cases arising from the polls, the first in 15 years.
The parliamentary and presidential polls are set for May 22 and July 31, respectively.
The also agreed to ensure that security services in the West Bank — under the control of the Palestinian Authority — and the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip remained neutral during the vote.
In a joint statement both factions committed to addressing the effects of political division and agreed to release all political prisoners.
Both sides also said they would ensure freedom of expression during the campaign.
The Palestinians have been bitterly divided since 2007, when Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas’ forces a year after the militant group won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
Several attempts at reconciliation over the years have collapsed amid mutual recriminations.
One obstacle that remains is whether Israel will allow Palestinian voting in east Jerusalem, a territory the Jewish state seized in 1967 along with the West bank and Gaza. Palestinians want to have east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, but Israel bars the Palestinian Authority from operating in the city.
The elections pose risks for both factions. Hamas may have to answer for the severe deterioration of living conditions in Gaza since it seized power. Israel and Egypt have imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since 2007, which Israel says is needed to keep Hamas from importing arms.
For Abbas, reconciliation with Hamas could undermine relations with Western countries, including the United States, where President Joe Biden has vowed to restore aid to the Palestinians and try to revive peace talks with Israel.
(With AP and AFP)
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Palestinian factions commit to May elections
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Palestinian factions commit to May elections
- Fatah and Hamas agree on ‘mechanisms’ for forthcoming elections and to respect their outcome
- The deal also includes commitments to immediately release all political prisoners
Sudan once again tops International Rescue Committee crises watchlist
- It is the third time in a row Sudan has headed the list, which was published on Tuesday
- It highlights the 20 countries most at risk of new or worsened humanitarian emergencies
PORT SUDAN:Sudan has once again topped a watchlist of global humanitarian crises released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization, as warring sides press on with a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
It is the third time in a row Sudan has headed the list, which was published on Tuesday. It highlights the 20 countries most at risk of new or worsened humanitarian emergencies.
“What the IRC is seeing on the ground is not a tragic accident. The world is not simply failing to respond to crisis; actions and words are producing, prolonging, and rewarding it,” IRC CEO David Miliband said in a statement.
“The scale of the crisis in Sudan, ranking first on this year’s Watchlist for the third year in a row and now the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded, is a signature of this disorder.”
War erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, and triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 12 million people have already been displaced by the ongoing war in Sudan, where humanitarian workers lack resources to help those fleeing, many of whom have been raped, robbed or bereaved by the violence.
Sudan is followed by the Palestinian territories, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Haiti, according to the list.
The IRC said although these countries are home to just 12 percent of the global population, they account for 89 percent of those in humanitarian need. It added that the countries are projected to host more than half of the world’s extreme poor by 2029.
The remaining countries on the list are Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
It is the third time in a row Sudan has headed the list, which was published on Tuesday. It highlights the 20 countries most at risk of new or worsened humanitarian emergencies.
“What the IRC is seeing on the ground is not a tragic accident. The world is not simply failing to respond to crisis; actions and words are producing, prolonging, and rewarding it,” IRC CEO David Miliband said in a statement.
“The scale of the crisis in Sudan, ranking first on this year’s Watchlist for the third year in a row and now the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded, is a signature of this disorder.”
War erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, and triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 12 million people have already been displaced by the ongoing war in Sudan, where humanitarian workers lack resources to help those fleeing, many of whom have been raped, robbed or bereaved by the violence.
Sudan is followed by the Palestinian territories, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Haiti, according to the list.
The IRC said although these countries are home to just 12 percent of the global population, they account for 89 percent of those in humanitarian need. It added that the countries are projected to host more than half of the world’s extreme poor by 2029.
The remaining countries on the list are Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
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