Ramallah (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for early general elections after days of intensified tension in Gaza Strip amid heightened fears of civil war. The president of the National Palestinian Authority communicated his decision in an address from Ramallah broadcast today on Palestinian television.
“We will not allow ourselves to be dragged into civil war,” vowed Abu Mazen, drawing attention to the fact that Constitution allowed him to dissolve the government “at any time he hold opportune”.
As for the direct attack on the life of Premier Haniyeh, the president denied the existence of a “conspiracy” against the Hamas leader and said “facts were distorted” on purpose to indicate the opposite.
Hamas was swift to respond. One of its MPs, Ahmed Bahar, described the decision to call early elections as “illegal”. The MP Mushir al-Masri even talked of a “real coup d’etat against a democratically elected executive”. Sources close to Abu Mazen said parliamentary and presidential elections could be held together within three months.