RAMALLAH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday chaired a meeting of his Fatah party's central committee to discuss preparing for holding elections in the Palestinian territories.
"We will discuss the elections, preparing for holding it and measures that will be taken to achieve this goal," Abbas was quoted by the official WAFA news agency as saying during the meeting.
The last Palestinian presidential election was held in 2005 and the last parliamentary elections were held in 2006, where Islamic Hamas movement won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament of the Palestinian Authority.
Rival Fatah and Hamas always trade accusations over who is the one who worries about holding new elections, while many Palestinians fear that Israel would prevent holding the Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future Palestinian state, while Israel insists that united Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel.
Abbas also said that the Fatah central committee meeting "will discuss other foreign and internal issues that are related to our activities, besides the financial problems we have with Israel."
