Palestine wants to hold “general elections”: they plan to include Gaza and Jerusalem

Palestine wants to hold elections in areas including the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. / Collage 24 Channel

The head of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, said his country would like to hold “inclusive parliamentary and presidential elections.” However, he said, the vote should not be limited to Palestine.

In particular, Abbas wants to include the Gaza Strip in the vote. In addition, he also announced Palestinian elections in parts of the Israeli capital, Jerusalem.

Abbas announced preparations for elections

At the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States in Riyadh, Mahmoud Abbas said that “the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the state of Palestine.” That is why he wants election voting to take place in this part of the territory.

In addition, he also intends to include the eastern part of Jerusalem in the elections. It is worth noting that the status of the city is one of the controversial points in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

After all, the last Palestinian parliamentary elections were held in 2006. Then the political party of the terrorist organization Hamas received more seats than Abbas's party, the Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine. As a result, Abbas did not recognize the election results, and Hamas established control over the Gaza Strip.

Israel speaks out about the future of the Gaza Strip

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will oppose Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip after the war between the IDF and Hamas ends.

He also stressed that after the war, Israel will retain “overall control over security, including the ability to enter the Gaza Strip when we want to eliminate terrorists who may reappear.”

I'll tell you what won't happen. There will be no Hamas. There will also be no civilian authorities who teach their children to hate, kill Israelis and eliminate the State of Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu stressed that there cannot be a government that “pays the families of murderers amounts depending on the number of people they killed.” He also reproached the Palestinian authorities that “after 30 days after the terrible attack, it has still not been condemned.”

“There must be something different here. But in any case, we must have control over security. I insist on this,” the head of the Israeli government emphasized.

He noted that he may be pressed on this issue, but he does not intend to retreat. According to him, the completion of the IDF operation in Gaza requires that the day after the liquidation of the terrorist group there, “another Hamas cannot rise.”