Palestinian leader indicates elections will be postponed

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas indicated on Thursday that he supports delaying the first Palestinian elections in 15 years — a decision that would likely spare his Fatah party an embarrassing defeat and be quietly welcomed by Israel and Western countries.

Abbas, who spoke at the start of a meeting of Palestinian factions to decide the issue, focused his remarks on the voting in east Jerusalem, where Israel has yet to say whether it would allow voting by mail as in past elections and has enforced a ban on Palestinian Authority activities, including campaign events.

“We will take the proper decision to preserve all our rights in east Jerusalem, our eternal capital, including the right to hold parliamentary elections there,” Abbas said in a lengthy speech before the closed-door part of the gathering.

A final decision is expected late Thursday or early Friday.

Cancelling or postponing the vote over Jerusalem could be seen as a pretext, as only a small number of voters in the city would actually require Israel's permission and several candidates have suggested workarounds.

Abbas said the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly sought assurances from Israel and called on the European Union to exert pressure, to no avail. He said it received a letter from Israel on Thursday saying it could not take a position on the elections because it does not yet have a government of its own following last month's elections.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, which stands to gain influence in the elections, had earlier rejected the idea of postponing them, saying the Palestinians should explore ways of “forcing the elections in Jerusalem without the permission of or coordination with the occupation.”

It also issued a veiled warning to Abbas without mentioning him by name, saying...