Jameel Mizhir, a member of the political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the local elections to be held in Gaza and the West Bank in October is a step in the right direction, would pave the road for general elections, and also end a 10-year impasse among Palestinians.

Mizhir noted in an interview with a Palestine Today correspondent in Gaza that various Palestinian political factions have signed a document of honor in which they expressed readiness to respect the results of the elections and to deal with the elected representatives politically, legally and financially, without any discrimination.

عضو المكتب السياسي للجبهة الشعبية جميل مزهر: الانتخابات المحلية ستمهد الطريق لإنهاء الانقسام وتجديد النظام السياسي

— الاعلامي معتز شاهين (@Motazpress) July 21, 2016

The PFLP leader revealed that there is an initial agreement to participate in the local elections, but things have not been finalized yet: “There is a discussion about the possibility of having a unified national list of academics and technocrats that his group would endorse.”

He added, “We live through very difficult circumstances and national unity should be reached to face all these challenges facing the Palestinians,” noting that factional interests is the main reason why Palestinians have not been united yet.

Mizhir reiterated his position on refusing political arrests in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and supported Abbas’s position not to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for finding alternatives to the futile peace negotiations.

(PC, Palestine Today)