Exclusive: Palestinian dialogue in Cairo could delay elections, Fatah sources say

A Palestinian national dialogue expected to be held in Cairo could include discussions on postponing the legislative elections scheduled for 28 November, senior Fatah figures have told The New Arab, although a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official insisted the talks are intended to help prepare for the vote.

The meeting, called for by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and expected to take place under Egyptian auspices, would bring together Palestinian factions for talks on elections and national unity, according to sources who spoke to The New Arab. They likened the proposed gathering to a 2023 meeting of faction leaders in Egypt’s New Alamein that failed to produce an agreement.

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and factions within the PLO are expected to be invited, the sources said. One said that Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah figure who leads the Democratic Reform Current, and Nasser al-Qudwa, who heads the Palestinian National Democratic Forum, would not take part.

In a statement issued after a meeting chaired by Abbas’s deputy, Hussein al-Sheikh, the PLO Executive Committee backed the president’s call for an immediate, comprehensive dialogue to strengthen Palestinian unity. Abbas did not attend the committee meeting.

The committee also reaffirmed its commitment to holding legislative elections in occupied East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip. Voting must take place simultaneously across all three, it said, for the electoral process to remain unified.

Questions over the election timetable

Senior Fatah figures told The New Arab they believed the timing of the dialogue could give Abbas a way to postpone the vote with the agreement of other Palestinian factions, rather than making the decision himself. They pointed to divisions within Fatah and the possibility of rival electoral lists led by figures opposed to his leadership.

Abbas postponed elections originally planned for 2021 indefinitely, citing Israel’s refusal to allow voting in East Jerusalem. His July decree setting a new legislative vote for 28 November 2026 marked the first official election timetable since then. Presidential elections are scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

"President Abbas has made a commitment to France and Saudi Arabia in particular, and to the world, to hold legislative elections. He therefore will not resort to postponing them by a decision of his own," the Fatah sources said.

However, a PLO Executive Committee source rejected the suggestion that the dialogue was a route to delaying the vote. "The national dialogue is not an alternative to elections, but part of the preparations for them," the source told The New Arab on condition of anonymity.

"The aim of the dialogue is not to postpone the elections, but to reach a national understanding that sets out a strategy for confronting the challenges — foremost among them the separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank," the source said.

The official also criticised an emerging political alignment between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Dahlan’s Reform Current, arguing that it risked deepening the divide between Gaza and the West Bank.

The dispute comes amid wider doubts about whether an election can be organised across the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s position on voting in occupied East Jerusalem remains unresolved, while Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 74,000 people, has led to destruction and mass displacement, raising questions about voter registration, polling stations and access to the ballot.

Hamas and other factions have also objected to changes to the election law introduced by Abbas in June this year, including a requirement that candidates commit to the PLO’s political programme.