Why a cancelled Palestinian election is bad news for all, not just those in Gaza and West Bank

Palestinians had been due to vote for the first time in 16 years but now their political future is even more uncertain, writes Bel Trew

Trouble has brewed for Abbas and his support base since Fatah unexpectedly split into three blocs (Reuters)

It is hard to overstate the significance of the moment when Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced there would finally be legislative and presidential Palestinian elections, the first in 15 years.

It was a chance for Palestinians to finally have a say about their stale and out of touch leadership: Abbas himself won a four year term in 2005 and has extended that for 12 additional years.

There was feverish speculation any vote could even see a solid rapprochement between the occupied West Bank, where Abbas’s western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule and Gaza, ruled by Hamas militant group.