PALESTINE: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced over the weekend that he was postponing legislative elections scheduled for mid-July, in a move widely perceived as aimed at preventing a poor showing by his ruling Fatah party at the polls.
The announcement sparked angry criticism from Hamas, which has fared well in recent municipal elections and was expected to do so again in the July 17th polls. "The decision was taken unilaterally and it came as a response to the conditions and the atmosphere in the Fatah movement, not because of any national consideration," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Abbas did not specify a new date, but sources close to the Palestinian leader have spoken of holding the poll some time between November and January.
Questions over Mr Abbas's ability to stamp his authority in the territories and the divisions within Fatah were on display over the weekend as militants - mostly associated with the ruling party - killed a senior Palestinian official, abducted another and took over government buildings.
In Nablus, militants briefly took over three Palestinian Authority buildings yesterday, while on Saturday gunmen abducted and then released a Palestinian diplomat in Gaza.
On Friday, gunmen in Nablus killed an official whom they accused of ordering the killing 15 years ago of a man suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Some of the militants are angry with Mr Abbas for not incorporating them in the Palestinian Authority security services. The Palestinian leader, who has pledged to end the violence, has been trying to co-opt militants by giving them jobs in his security services.
Mr Abbas has rejected Israel's demand that he use force to disarm militant groups, insisting this would spark civil war.
Hamas, which is participating in elections for the first time, had been hoping it would do well electorally in light of the public discontent over lawlessness in the streets and corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Now Fatah is hoping that the postponement will give it time to defuse internal dissent and come up with a strong list of candidates before the election is held.
In Israel, meanwhile, opponents of prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza sealed shut several government offices with chains and contact glue in a protest action yesterday. Police arrested five 16-year-olds on suspicion of trying to seal the education ministry and a courthouse in Jerusalem.