Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar on Saturday accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of failing to fulfill his promise to hold elections for the Palestinian parliament.
In a televised interview with the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa TV channel aired Saturday evening, Zahhar rejected Abbas' invitation to Hamas to sign a document pledging to take part in presidential and parliamentary elections.
He demanded that instead of asking Hamas to sign new agreements, the president uphold his own responsibilities to hold the elections as outlined by the Cairo agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in 2012.
The statement signals ongoing disagreements between the two largest Palestinian parties regarding the future of the government of national unity currently in place, less than a year after it's formation was agreed upon to much fanfare.
In 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in Doha in which Abbas pledged to lead an interim government of technocrats before elections to be held in May 2012.
The elections were never held, but in 2012 in Cairo Abbas recommitted himself to holding elections. Since then, however, political disputes and Israeli offensives against the Gaza Strip have sidelined elections.
When Hamas and Fatah signed a new unity deal in April 2014, both sides announced that elections would be held within six months. But an Israeli arrest campaign against the West Bank in early summer and a massive military assault in July-August derailed the timeline.
Ongoing tension has persisted between the two parties since, with Hamas saying Fatah has failed to help expedite Gaza's reconstruction and Fatah accusing Hamas of undermining the unity government's rule in the traditionally Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Hamas wants 'good relations with Egypt, Saudi, and UAE'
Zahhar also spoke about foreign policy during the interview, accusing the Palestinian Authority of trying to "defame" Hamas by conveying false claims about the movement to intelligence services in other Arab countries.
"The PA incited Egypt against Hamas through inaccurate information," he added, in reference to the ongoing wave of anti-Hamas moves by the Egyptian government, which has outlawed the party and called it's military wing a "terrorist" organization.
Zahhar highlighted that Hamas movement would always seek to have good relations with all Arab and Islamic countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Asked about Iran, he said: "We have good relations with Iran and we will always seek to maintain those relations because, contrary to others, Iran gives and asks for nothing in return."
