GAZA, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza, which dominates the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), held on Wednesday a special session of the inoperative Palestinian parliament in Gaza City, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa Radio reported.
The parliament session, only attended by Hamas lawmakers, opponents of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and other independent PLC members, is an apparent challenge to Abbas' latest announcement of the decision to dissolve the parliament according to the Constitutional Court verdict and his call for elections within six months.
Hamas won the parliamentary elections held in the Palestinian territories in January 2006 and ousted Fatah which had dominated the parliament for 10 years.
Hamas won 70 seats in the 132-seat parliament, while Fatah secured 56 seats. Since then, parliamentary and presidential elections haven't been held.
"There is no legitimacy for the so-called Constitutional Court formed by Abbas, and so its verdict to dissolve our parliament is illegal," Ahmad Bahar, a senior Hamas leader and deputy speaker of the PLC, told the session.
"We will be faithful to our people who trusted us and gave us their votes and so we will carry on with our parliamentary activities inside and outside Palestine," he said.
It is necessary and important to hold the elections in accordance with the Palestinian national consensus and previous understandings and agreements, Bahar stressed.