PALESTINIAN ELECTION TO BE POSTPONED, PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES

President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that the election in Palestine will be postponed, Saud Abu Ramadan and Sara Lemel reported for the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Abbas made the announcement after meeting with representatives of several Palestinian groups in Ramallah on Thursday evening. The Palestinian president said it had been agreed to postpone the poll election until the participation of the people in East Jerusalem could be assured. The election had been scheduled for May 22nd and would have been the first election in more than 15 years.

Earlier, the Islamist Hamas movement had warned that it will hold Israel responsible if the election were to be canceled. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, does not agree to a postponement or cancellation of the election, it said in a statement released on Wednesday evening. It also said it was unacceptable to hold the election without a vote in East Jerusalem.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, does not agree to a postponement or cancellation of the election, it said in a statement released on Wednesday evening. It also said it was unacceptable to hold the election without a vote in East Jerusalem.

The official reason for the cancellation: According to Palestinian sources, Israel has not responded to the Palestinian Authority's demand to allow the vote to be held in the Arab-majority eastern part of Jerusalem in addition to the Palestinian Territories.

The status of the city is one of the central points of contention in the Middle East conflict: Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible capital," while the Palestinians maintain their claim to East Jerusalem as their capital.

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