RAMALLAH – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Sunday that Hamas movement has the right to participate in Palestinian elections despite Israeli criticism. Sa'eb Erekat, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee and head of its Negotiations Department, told the Israel Army Radio that “Fatah and Hamas have differences in opinion but everyone has a right to run in elections.” “We are a democracy and whoever wins, wins,” he said. Erekat said that “Hamas' winning of the elections does not mean that it will take over the West Bank.” The PLO's official told the Army Radio that the Palestinians “don't use bullets, we use ballots”, referring to Israel's use of violence against Palestinians. Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, and seized the Gaza Strip by force a year later and kept the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) confined to the West Bank. On Thursday, Egypt announced that Fatah and Hamas have agreed to start immediately implementing previous reconciliation agreements signed between the two rival parties. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mish'al “displayed a positive and responsible spirit” during the discussions last week, which were attended by senior Egyptian intelligence officials, the Egyptians said in a statement. The Doha agreement, signed between Abbas and Mish'al in 2012, envisages the formation of a Palestinian “national unity government” headed by Abbas and holding new presidential and parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories. Khalil Assaf, representative of independent Palestinian figures assembly in the West Bank, said on Sunday that the “Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) will resume its work in Gaza Strip within days to prepare elections.” On last July, CEC halted voters' registration process in Gaza Strip over differences with Hamas. The committee said at the time that it decided to halt the process after Hamas decision to suspend the registration of voters in the Gaza Strip.
