RAMALLAH/GAZA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, announced on Saturday night that the Palestinian Constitutional Court decided to dissolve the Palestinian Authority (PA) parliament, better known as the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
Islamic Hamas movement opposed the decision, saying it will deepen the internal Palestinian division.
Abbas made the announcement in a speech addressed before a meeting for the Palestinian leadership, including Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and his Fatah Party's Central Committee.
The court also called for holding new parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories within six months, said Abbas at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Hamas won last parliamentary elections held in 2006 and ousted the Fatah Party, which has dominated the PLC since its establishment in 1996.
Yehya Musa, a senior Hamas leader and member of the PLC, said in a press statement that the decision to dissolve the PLC does not have any value.
"The decision of Abbas deepens the internal Palestinian division and destroys the Palestinian political system," said Musa, adding that "the PLC will continue working and convene as usual, regardless of Abbas' decision."
"The purpose of establishing the Constitutional Court was to attack the basic law and to be a tool in the hands of President Abbas to destroy any Palestinian institution," Musa said.
The PLC has been inoperative since the beginning of the internal Palestinian split between Hamas and Fatah in 2007 after Hamas had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip and routed Abbas security forces.
Hamas, which has a majority in the PLC, had been unilaterally holding regular PLC sessions in the Gaza Strip amid the absence of Fatah Party members and other minor factions and political groups.
Abbas chaired a meeting of the Palestinian leadership on Saturday evening to debate the recent Israeli army escalation in the West Bank, where seven Palestinians had been killed within the last ten days.
He said that "this is what has to be implemented immediately as the first step against the Hamas movement."
"If Hamas rejects the Palestinian reconciliation and ending the internal division, we should go to the end in making decisions that were discussed by the central council of the PLO and its other committees," Abbas said.
Abbas criticized that Hamas is not serious in implementing the reconciliation understandings related to ending the internal division that has been going on since 2007.
"Hamas has a political plan of establishing a state in Gaza and ruling in the West Bank," he said.
In terms of the political process with Israel, Abbas said that "we stand in front of a crossroad, and we already started to reconsider all the signed peace agreements reached between Israel and the PLO," adding that Paris Economy Agreement might be mended.
He stressed that the Palestinians reject talking only about the economy track with the Israeli side and be away from the political and security solution.
"We should go together on the three tracks," he noted.
As for the recent Israeli escalation in the West Bank, Abbas said "all the Israeli measures and the attempts to disturb and sabotage the Palestinian security in the West Bank are useless."
