Hossein Royvaran, in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations regarding Mahmoud Abbas’s proposal, which calls for forming an unarmed Palestinian government including in the Gaza Strip and holding general elections, stated that these remarks are not very significant, saying: Since 2006, when the last elections were held in Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas has announced dozens of times that he wants to hold elections, but this has not happened.

He added: Mahmoud Abbas knows that he will never win any election in Palestine, yet he raises the slogan of holding elections. However, not only are no elections held, but fundamentally, holding elections is impossible given the current conditions and positions of the Zionist regime.

This regional affairs expert stated: The Israeli regime occupied the entire West Bank in 2002 and has currently occupied Gaza as well. Therefore, holding elections under these conditions is impossible, not only politically but even logistically; while the people of Gaza are struggling with hunger and are under intense attack by the Israeli regime, what meaning can the proposal to hold elections have? Can elections even be held in Gaza now? Which school, mosque, hospital, or church remains to be organized for elections? Therefore, these statements are merely sloganeering or an attempt to gain legitimacy through slogans rather than action.

Royvaran, referring to the efforts of the Zionist regime in the Knesset to annex the West Bank to the Occupied Territories, said: Of course, this issue is not yet finalized and requires this impractical and unacceptable plan to be approved twice more in the Knesset to become official. But when the Israeli regime claims annexation of the West Bank, how can Mahmoud Abbas propose holding general elections?

He emphasized that Mahmoud Abbas’s statement is inconsistent with the Constitution, the Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and various other principles and rules, thereby violating both the Constitution and the PLO Covenant. Meanwhile, the President of the Palestinian Authority has set conditions for holding elections that are completely incompatible with these laws. Therefore, it seems these statements are a propaganda show to repair Mahmoud Abbas’s lack of legitimacy among Palestinians, from which he suffers intensely.

Royvaran, referring to the last elections held in Palestine in 2006, said: No elections have been held since 2006. But even in those elections, Hamas won with 61% of the vote, and the Palestinian Authority was forced to introduce Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister. However, after coordinating with Western powers, it ousted Haniyeh from power and introduced Fayyad as his replacement; since then, no other Prime Minister has been able to gain a vote of confidence from the Palestinian parliament. Interestingly, in these years, Mahmoud Abbas has arrested and imprisoned some of the people’s elected representatives.

He further stated: According to Resolutions 242, 338, and 12 other resolutions, areas including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem are considered occupied territories. From an international perspective, these occupied territories are the place for declaring a Palestinian state. However, the Israeli regime opposes this and prevents it, fundamentally refusing to recognize a Palestinian state. The Israeli regime has explicitly violated Resolutions 242 and 338. This regime annexed East Jerusalem to the Occupied Territories in 1981. In the 2006 elections, residents of Jerusalem could vote not in central areas but outside the city. But today, conditions have changed significantly compared to 2006, and the issue of elections will certainly not be accepted by the Israeli regime.