RAMALLAH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian observers warned of a growing legal chaos in the Palestinian arena that threatens to perpetuate the 11-year internal division as a result of the growing differences between Fatah and Hamas political movements.
Abbas announced on Dec. 22 last year that the Palestinian Constitutional Court issued a decision to dissolve the inoperative Palestinian Authority (PA) parliament, better known as the PLC, and prepare for holding new parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories within six months.
Hamas movement, which won the last parliamentary elections held in 2006, slammed the decision as a way to deepen the internal Palestinian division.
On Wednesday, Hamas bloc in the PLC overwhelmingly voted to end Abbas' mandate, saying he has lost his constitutional, legal and national capacity.
Observers questioned the legality of the mutual procedures between Fatah and Hamas and considered them as political measures that cannot help find a way out of the current crisis as much as they threaten to put additional obstacles to any efforts for reconciliation.
Director of Masarat Center for Research and Studies in Ramallah, Hani al-Masri, said that Hamas's move was a "grave mistake" because the PLC cannot take a decision to delegitimize the Palestinian president.
At the same time, al-Masri stressed that the decision to dissolve the PLC was wrong because the Palestinian basic law does not allow dissolving the parliament and it explicitly states that its term expires when a new council is elected.
"Abbas's actions and Hamas's responses represent an unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian situation and an entrenchment of the internal division that will accelerate its transformation into a separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," al-Masri told Xinhua.
Al-Masri warned of the danger of perpetuating two Palestinian authorities and leaderships, each of which claims legitimacy, posing a threat that could undermine the Palestinian national project.
The PLC has been inoperative since the beginning of the internal Palestinian split between Hamas and Fatah in 2007, after Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip and routed Abbas security forces.
Hamas, a majority in the PLC, has been unilaterally holding regular PLC sessions in the Gaza Strip amid the absence of Fatah Party members and other minor factions and political groups.
Since the beginning of the internal Palestinian division, holding new elections has been a frequent talk in the Palestinian reconciliation understandings without translating it into real procedures.
Several agreements on Palestinian national reconciliation have been reached under the sponsorship of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt in the past years, but none of them has resulted in a tangible breakthrough to end the division.
In October 2017, Hamas and Fatah signed an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation pact in Cairo to heal their prolonged rift.
Under the deal, Hamas should fully hand over its power in Gaza to the Ramallah-based consensus government in December 2017. But the differences between the two sides forced a delay in the implementation of the deal until further notice.
Gaza-based political expert Talal Okal said that the issue of legitimacy is no longer an issue of paramount importance in the Palestinian arena as long as the basis of the law is absent because of the internal division.
He pointed out that each party is practicing the law only in accordance with its interest, "which requires an end to use the law selectively."
Okal considered that the recent reciprocal actions between Fatah and Hamas reflect the depth of the widening gap between them.
Okal stressed that the continuation of this spiral of conflict will further weaken the Palestinian position and undermine the steadfastness of the Palestinians, noting that the Palestinian people are the ones who pay a heavy price for this ongoing feud.
