Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he would announce the date of a controversial statehood referendum by the the end of the week.
“After the end of the 10 days of dialogue, we are now working on the decree [allowing the referendum] and this will take a little time to complete,” Abbas told reporters after talks with United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.
“There will be an announcement at the opportune moment in one or two days’ time” on the date of the referendum, Abbas added.
Abbas spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina also told reporters that a final decision on the date of the referendum would be made, “probably on Saturday”.
Abbas won approval from the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee on Tuesday to call the referendum on a statehood initiative to solve a series of crises that have pitted his Fatah movement and the governing Islamist faction Hamas, which is opposed to the plebiscite.
The document at the heart of the referendum challenge calls for a national-unity government, an end to attacks in Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel on land conquered by the Jewish state in 1967.
If accepted, the blueprint would undercut Hamas’s long-time platform of refusing to recognise Israel or disavow the use of violence, even within Israeli borders, as well as bounce it into a coalition government with Fatah. — AFP