[News] Palestine calls for pressure on Israel to allow elections in East Jerusalem

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RAMALLAH, Tuesday, February 15, 2021 (WAFA) – Palestine today called on the European Union to pressure Israel to allow holding the general elections in East Jerusalem. Speaking during a meeting with the EU representative in Palestine Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff in Ramallah, Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub briefed Burgsdorff on the outcomes of the recent meeting attended by fourteen Palestinian factions in Cairo regarding the agreement to hold elections for the first time in nearly 15 years. He affirmed the factions’ adherence to what was agreed in the meeting and spotlighted the preparations underway for the general elections. He emphasized the need for international pressure on Israel to allow holding the elections in Jerusalem and stressed the importance of EU’s role in monitoring elections throughout its three phases. Burgsdorff confirmed the EU’s readiness to offer all forms of support to ensure successful elections, including dispatching international monitors, and welcomed the outcomes of the Egypt-hosted meeting between the factions on the elections. The EU diplomat had also separate meetings with member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee Ahmad Majdalani and Deputy Fatah Chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul. Majdalani and al-Aloul highlighted the necessity of holding the elections as a means conducive to ending the intra-Palestinian division, achieving national unity, reinvigorating the Palestinian political system structure as well as to addressing the huge challenges to the Palestinian question.