GAZA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians bid farewell to the passing 2019, frustrated, yet hopeful that the coming new year will witness a breakthrough in ending the internal Palestinian division that strengthens their position vis-a-vis Israel.
The Palestinians were seeking in the last quarter of the passing year to hold their general elections, the first in 13 years. However, they are still waiting for Israel's permission to hold them in East Jerusalem.
As peace talks with Israel have been stalled, the Palestinians received a push when the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced to open an investigation into allegations of war crimes in the Palestinian territories after a preliminary investigation that lasted more than four years.
INTERNAL SPLIT GOES ON
During 2019, the two Palestinian parties, Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, failed to end their division which began when Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
A series of Arab and Egypt-brokered understandings reached between the two rivals failed amid growing feuds between Hamas leaders and Abbas.
Failure to end the internal division has increased frustration and despair among the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where no official face-to-face meetings were held except a meeting in Moscow on Feb. 11, which included not only the two rivals but all Palestinian factions.
The Moscow meeting led to no result, except getting a photo opportunity.
A unity government headed by the independent academic Rami Hamdallah, formed under the reconciliation agreements reached in April 2014, resigned on Jan. 29, and was succeeded by a new one headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtaye.
But the formation of a new government sparked outrage among Palestinian factions who said that this would deepen the internal division.
On Sept. 23, eight Palestinian factions presented an initiative to achieve unity and end division, but it did not gain the attention of the Palestinian officials.
GENERAL ELECTIONS MET WITH DIFFICULTIES
On Sept. 26, President Abbas announced in a speech addressed before the United Nations General Assembly that he would call for holding legislative elections to be followed by presidential elections in the Palestinian territories.
He designated Hana Nasser, president of the Central Elections Commission, to start contacts and dialogue with Hamas movement and other political powers in the Palestinian territories. On Nov. 27, Hamas officially announced that it accepted holding the elections.
However, issuing a presidential decree that sets up a date for holding the elections was stuck due to Israel's refusal to hold the elections in East Jerusalem.
Abbas' insistence on holding the Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem aimed to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump, who announced in late 2017 that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
PEACE TALKS WITH ISRAEL REMAIN STALLED
The peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians remained stalled since 2014 following nine-month U.S. sponsorship that ended without any breakthrough due to deep differences on the settlements, Jerusalem and the borders of the Palestinian state.
On July 25, President Abbas told a Palestinian leadership meeting held in Ramallah that he decided to stop sticking with the agreements signed with Israel in response to mass destruction of Palestinian homes in southwest of Jerusalem.
During 2019, the Palestinians complained about the increase in Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. At the same time, 252 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during violent clashes with Israeli security forces.
POLITICAL TIES WITH U.S. STILL SEVERED
The political ties between Palestine and the U.S. remained severed since the latter declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel at the end of 2017 and moved the U.S. embassy to the city in May 2018.
The Palestinians also insisted on rejecting the U.S. Mideast plan, better known as "Deal of the Century," and boycotted the forum hosted by the U.S. in Bahrain in June to roll out the economic part of the deal.
The Palestinian ties with the U.S. further worsened after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in November that Israeli settlements, built on the Palestinian lands, didn't violate international laws.
