Palestinian factions and independents have reached a wide consensus to contest the coming Palestinian legislative elections on a single, unified national list, in a rare political alignment that cuts across some of the deepest divides in Palestinian politics, according to a source who spoke to Quds News Network.
The source said representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front, the Popular Resistance Committees, and the reformist current within Fatah led by Mohammed Dahlan took part in the meeting. The participants stressed the need to agree on a shared political program, to move beyond factional quota-sharing, and not to make the number of seats the basis of competition. They agreed to complete consultations and settle their positions by August 25, and to form an open consultative committee that any party wishing to join can enter, to continue coordination and joint work.
The emerging bloc would bring together forces that have long stood on opposing sides of the Palestinian scene. According to reports, the national coalition is expected to include Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the reformist current in Fatah associated with Dahlan, and the Nasser Brigades, with Islamic Jihad deciding to take part in legislative elections for the first time in its history, an unprecedented step. The Popular Front is expected to deliver its response on joining the coalition in the coming week.
The talks follow a decree issued by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on July 9 calling for legislative elections on November 28, which would be the first legislative vote since the January 2006 elections that produced the last elected council, in which Hamas won a majority of seats. Hamas has said it has decided to take part but prefers to run within the broadest possible national bloc, with its national relations official Hussam Badran stressing that the movement places no prior veto on any party and does not need permission or a guarantee from anyone, least of all the Israeli occupation, to take part in Palestinian elections.
The prospect of this unified list has unsettled the calculations of Abbas and his Fatah movement. Fatah is preparing to run on a single official list of its own and has made clear that its organizational rules reject sharing a list with Hamas, even as it leaves the door open to alliances with other factions. The readiness of opposition forces to participate, rather than boycott, has upended an assumption that the opposition would sit the vote out, and has raised the possibility of a serious electoral challenge to Abbas's weakened authority.
That challenge is reflected in the polling. A hypothetical presidential race shows imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti leading with 54 percent, against 26 percent for Hamas political bureau chief Khalil al-Hayya and just 14 percent for Abbas, while more Palestinians see Hamas as more deserving to lead than Abbas's Fatah. Barghouti's name looms over the discussions as a potential unifying figure, though his imprisonment makes his position difficult to determine.
The convergence has sharpened fears that Abbas will move to delay or cancel the elections rather than risk a vote that could strip his faction of its dominance. Abbas issued the electoral decree unilaterally, amending the election law without national dialogue and separating the legislative elections from the presidential vote, a move critics warn could reproduce the scenario of 2021, when Abbas called off elections at the last moment under the pretext that Israel would not permit voting in occupied Jerusalem. Figures across the opposition have warned against a repeat, noting that the mechanics of voting in occupied Jerusalem remain unresolved amid Israeli rejection, a pretext that could once again be used to postpone the vote.
