Hamas rejects plan to dissolve Palestinian parliament

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas on Sunday denounced Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's plan to dissolve the largely defunct Palestinian parliament that it controls, calling it a move to "serve his partisan interests".

Abbas said Saturday he intended to dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council after a court decision that ordered the move and elections to be held within six months. The ruling was made by the Palestinian Constitutional Court in Ramallah, and Hamas said in a statement it rejected the decision by a court created by Abbas "to legitimise his arbitrary decisions".

"Abbas should have extended his hands to (Hamas leader Ismail) Haniya´s invitation to hold a joint meeting, thereby ending the Palestinian division," the statement said. "Rather, Abbas opted to ruin the Palestinian political system, maintain his unilateralism, and dissolve the

legal institutions of the Palestinian people. All of this is just to serve his partisan interests."