Bahar Urges Abbas to Lift Embargo on PLC İn WB

Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC), has urged Mahmoud Abbas, the PA chief whose term in office expired last year, to end the embargo on the work of the PLC in the West Bank.

Bahar, in a statement on Sunday, said that the PLC was ready to perform its duty according to the constitution.

Commenting on Abbas's statement that he was not planning to appoint a deputy for him because of the "absence" of the PLC, the deputy speaker said that the PLC was ready to deal with any effort to serve national goals and interests away from partisan sensitivities.

Bahar said that the PLC was working normally in accordance with legal and constitutional rules in the Gaza Strip while it was being blocked for political and partisan reasons in the West Bank.

He noted that the PLC passed a number of important laws and vital decisions without any obstacles or hindrances in the Gaza Strip following the division that split the Palestinian arena.

Bahar said that the PLC chairmanship, controlled by Hamas, was ready to reach a compromise formula with Abbas and his Fatah faction to resume work of the PLC in the Wet Bank, adding that the current Israeli schemes against the Palestinians should serve as an impetus for a unionist and fruitful parliamentary work to confront those schemes.

In the same context, Bahar condemned Abbas's security apparatuses for blocking a reception party in honor of oldest serving prisoners in the Israeli occupation jails that was prepared by the PLC chairmanship in the West Bank.

He said that such practices would only create inappropriate atmospheres and would negatively affect the attempts to overcome obstacles to national reconciliation.

Solidarity with prisoners is a religious, national, moral, and humanitarian duty, Bahar said, adding that the militias' step was an insult to the issue of prisoners and to their relatives. He called for bringing to account all those responsible for this step.

PIC