Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed legislative elections due next month until September 11, 2027 and called a presidential poll for the same date, blaming Israel and the security situation in the Palestinian territories for the delay.

Abbas’ decree cited “obstacles posed ​by Israeli measures” and the need to establish suitable political, security and on-the-ground conditions for “free, fair ​and inclusive elections”, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The decree called on Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza to vote.

There had been serious doubts that the Palestinian Authority vote would ​go ahead next month. The Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06, after which Abbas’ ​rival, the Islamist group Hamas, seized control of Gaza, ousting his loyalists.

Abbas has ruled by decree since his presidential mandate expired in 2009.

The decree said Israeli military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, along ​with Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, created challenges to preparing for and holding elections this November.

In Gaza, ​the decree pointed to “exceptional security and humanitarian conditions”, the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces, the lack of progress in reconstruction ‌and the failure to implement arrangements for deploying international stabilisation forces and police.

Israeli restrictions on access for election commission staff and international observers to Gaza and East Jerusalem also complicated preparations, the decree said.

The decision to postpone followed consultations with Palestinian factions and political forces. It also aimed to allow time for a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue ​to strengthen unity and address ​challenges facing the electoral process.

Pledge to Hold Vote after Two Decades

Two Palestinian officials told Reuters on Thursday that leaders of Abbas’ Fatah movement and rival Hamas had agreed at a meeting in ​Cairo on Wednesday to postpone the elections.

The delay comes just weeks after Abbas ​reaffirmed the November election timetable in his September 24 address to the UN General Assembly, as he sought to advance internationally backed reforms.

Abbas had committed in writing to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to hold presidential and ​legislative elections as part of France’s recognition of a Palestinian state ​in September 2025.

France’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that holding the elections was essential and it welcomed the launch of an EU election observation ​mission.

HED: Trump says Norway has ‘indelible stain’ for not awarding him Nobel Peace Prize

DEK: Each year of his ​presidency, Trump has expressed disappointment at his failure ​to win the prize.

Reuters

SYRACUSE, New York, Oct 9

US President Donald Trump reiterated his complaints on ​Friday about not receiving the Nobel Peace ‌Prize, calling it a disgraceful and embarrassing decision that had left a stain on Norway, which hosts the Nobel committee.

Trump ​unleashed on Norway hours after the committee ​awarded this year's prize to Navi Pillay, a former International Criminal Court judge who oversaw a UN ​report that concluded Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

Trump called ​Pillay a “mystery person” during a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York. “I never heard of the person. Nobody did.”

Each year of his ​presidency, Trump has expressed disappointment at his failure ​to win the prize.

“This is an indelible stain on the ‌country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision,” Trump said.

He listed a number of conflicts that he claimed a role in resolving ​and said he ​has helped prevent wars from breaking out between North and South Korea, Japan and North ​Korea, and China and Taiwan, without providing ​evidence.

“The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies ​of civilization. And we will ​not forget, Norway,” he said.