Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, told Voice of Palestine Radio the Palestinian leadership “cannot wait until all disagreements and differences are resolved."

The PLO official was referring to the internal split in West Bank and Gaza Strip that followed the Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip in 2007.

Abed Rabbo added that the Palestine Legislative Council “would work to resolve the differences between Fatah and Hamas.”

On Saturday, the PLO decided to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by September in West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Hamas said Saturday the elections should follow a national reconciliation with Fatah.

Sami Abu Zuhri, the Gaza-based Hamas spokesman, said that the movement rejects the call to hold the elections “before ending the current split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” adding that “Hamas is still sticking to the principle of holding the elections.”

Abu Zuhri added that “the call of Palestine Liberation Organization is illegal and the question of the elections is a national question. It should be held inside and outside the Palestinian territories, and this is completely clear in the agreement we signed in Cairo in 2005.”