Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared on Friday his decision to postpone the Palestinian legislative elections indefinitely.
He told a meeting for representatives of Palestinian factions that Israel had refused the elections in Occupied Jerusalem and called on the international community to pressure Israel into accepting holding elections in the holy city.
For its part Hamas Movement said that it regretted the decision describing it as a coup against the national understandings in that regard.
In a press release Hamas held Abbas and the Fatah Movement responsible for repercussions of that decision adding that it boycotted Abbas’s meeting with the Palestinian factions because it knew of the intention to declare the postponement of the elections.
It said that the Palestinian people in Jerusalem had already proven their ability to impose their will on the occupier and are capable of engaging in the elections.
Meanwhile the European Union expressed disappointment at the cancellation of the Palestinian elections.
Josep Borrell High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a press release on Friday that a new date for the elections should be fixed without any further delay. He renewed in this regard calls on Israel to facilitate the organization of the elections in all occupied Palestinian areas including east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian legislative elections were slated for May 22nd to be followed by presidential elections on July 31st and finally Palestinian National Council elections on August 31st.
