Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will call early elections if there is no agreement soon with Hamas on a national unity government, an independent Palestinian legislator said Saturday.
Mustafa Barghouti, a mediator in the coalition talks, said Abbas supporters feel "very sorry" over the political impasse and that the president was expected to make a speech to the public on the matter within days.
"The door will remain open for all the efforts to form a national unity government that could lift the siege and embargo on the Palestinian people," he said.
Abbas has been trying to form a coalition government as a way of ending the Palestinians' growing economic hardships, but talks broke down last month over Hamas's refusal to meet demands that it recognize Israel's right to exist.
The international community, under the quartet of the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, halted direct funding to the Palestinian government following the Hamas election victory earlier in the year.
On Thursday, the U.S. Congress approved a bill barring U.S. aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority as long as the Islamist movement refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel. The legislation would allow for humanitarian assistance.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan rejected the idea of calling elections, suggesting it was an attempt to overthrow the government.
"The Islamic movement of Hamas condemns the idea of the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization] to dismiss the Palestinian parliament and have early presidential and parliament elections in an attempt to stage a coup against the will of Hamas and of the Palestinian people," Radwan said.
"The Palestinian people expressed their will during the last elections, when they went to vote and elected Hamas."
Abbas, a moderate who has avoided confrontation throughout his two years in power, may be taking a major risk by calling a new vote, which perhaps explains his reluctance to issue a deadline.
In addition to putting his own job on the line, there are no guarantees that Fatah would improve its standing in a new vote.
The party, which dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, remains divided and tarnished by corruption and polls have forecast another Hamas victory.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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