RAMALLAH, Thursday, March 4, 2021 (WAFA) – The ruling Fatah party is going to run in the coming Palestinian legislative elections planned for May 22 in one list, today said Jibril Rjoub, secretary of Fatah’s Central Committee.

He told Palestine TV that "Fatah has taken a final decision and that is it will run in one list and that there will not be more than one list." He said that representatives of the various Palestinian political factions, along with the presidency of the Palestinian National Council, the parliament in exile, the Fatah Central Committee, and the Elections Commission are going to meet in Cairo on March 16 as scheduled to lay out clear mechanisms for the elections.

"We have come a long way and crossed the most difficult round and we cannot go back as all factions of the Palestinian national movement adhere to this, which will lead us to renew the legitimacy of the political system and achieve national unity," said Rjoub.

He said the page of political detention, summoning, or trial based on factional backgrounds is going to be closed in the next three days as called for in the freedoms decree.

Rjoub stressed the importance of reaching an agreement with its rival, Hamas movement, because "if there is no agreement with Hamas on all the issues, the agreement between us will collapse. There must be agreement and control of all the issues that we must agree on with them." No one will be able to stand in the way of the elections, said the senior Fatah official. "The train of the democratic process has left the station and no one will stop it." Rjoub said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to derail the Palestinian elections because he does not want to see Palestinian unity.

"He is betting on some parties that don't want us to have this historic opportunity, but we have powerful parties like Egypt and Jordan who are with us and support this process," he said.

M.K.