Turkey urges ‘Israel’ to facilitate Palestinian elections

Ankara (QNN)- Turkey has called on the Israeli occupation government to end its “obstructive” stance and facilitate Palestinian elections.

Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Turkey is saddened by the news that the Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections were postponed.

The main reason to delay the polls, the statement said, is that ‘Israel’ did not respond to the appeal by the Palestinians to hold elections in East Jerusalem and did not allow election campaigns to be carried out.

“We call upon the Israeli Government to end its obstructive policies and to respect the provisions of the 1995 Oslo Interim Agreement, so that the Palestinian elections will be conducted at the earliest possibility,” it read.

“On a separate note, we hope that the decision to postpone the elections will not have a negative impact on the intra-Palestinian reconciliation process, to which our country attaches great importance. We encourage all Palestinian groups to continue working towards unity and reconciliation,” the statement continued.

President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday delayed planned parliamentary elections amid a dispute over voting in East Jerusalem and splits in his Fatah party.

Abbas blamed the occupation state for uncertainty about whether it would allow the legislative election to proceed in Jerusalem as well as in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

‘Israel’ has yet to say whether it would allow voting by mail there as in past elections and has enforced a ban on Palestinian Authority activities, including campaign events.

President Mahmud Abbas said that legislative, presidential and National Council elections would be held in the coming months, as part of a warming of ties between Fatah and Hamas.

The elections are supposed to be held under decree issued by President Mahmoud Abbas in three stages: the legislative on May 22, the presidential elections on July 31, and the elections for the National Council on August 31.

The last Palestinian elections for the Legislative Council were held in 2006, and Hamas won the majority, while presidential elections were held in 2005, and President Abbas won.