PLO rejects Hamas' threats to prevent Gazans from voting

A senior official representing the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) on Sunday rejected Hamas' threats to prevent Gazans from voting in elections called by President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The Gaza Strip belongs to its residents and they can decide whether to participate in the elections or not," Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the PLO's Executive Committee, told Voice of Palestine radio.

The Islamic Hamas movement which controls Gaza refused Abbas' decree which called parliamentary and presidential elections to beheld in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem on Jan. 24, 2010.

On Saturday, several Hamas officials vowed to prevent the elections from taking place at least in the Gaza Strip.

However, Abed Rabbo responded that "Hamas gang" who get orders from "Tehran and Damascus" can't decide on letting or preventing the people in Gaza from voting.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said he is committed to holding general elections in accordance with the constitutional date without any postponement.

Abbas said he issued the decree to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip on Jan. 24 after rival factions failed to reach a deal through the Egyptian-sponsored dialogue.

The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, rejected Abbas' decree, arguing that Abbas is not "authorized and doesn't have the competence as a legal president to issue such a decree."

Source: Xinhua