The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said today, Wednesday, that his movement prefers to participate in the legislative elections, through a unified national list that includes "the widest national political spectrum."

This came in an article, published today, Wednesday, in the Palestinian newspaper "Al-Quds", which he said was to detail the position of the Hamas movement and its vision to move towards unity, partnership, and resistance.

Haniyeh asserted that the Hamas movement sees in strengthening national unity and end the Palestinian division as an essential entry point for maximizing Palestinian self-strength, and for mobilizing the forces of the Arab and Islamic nations to confront the Israeli project, especially in this period when regional and international powers want to legitimize the occupation entity to be a dominant state in the region.

He also indicated that the foundation from which the Hamas movement was launched in its desire to hold elections is based on activating the role of the Palestinian people in all places of their presence, in choosing the leadership that represents them, and believes that it is capable of achieving its goals and aspirations.

He said, "Hamas wants these elections to be an entry point for a complete arrangement of the Palestinian home, and to rebuild a Palestinian political system that responds to the challenges that constantly haunt the Palestinian situation, and that accommodates all the living forces in our people at home and in the diaspora on the basis of unity, partnership, and integration."

He added that it also aims to rebuild the Palestine Liberation Organization on democratic foundations, and to renew its institutions on the basis of partnership, to include all factions of our people, to manage the political conflict with the occupation, to take the issue to all forums, and to manage the conflict according to this inclusive national framework.

Haniyeh explained in his article that his movement prefers, after the elections, to form a national unity government in which everyone, even those forces that did not participate in the elections, participates to supervise the removal of "all the residues of division.

He indicated that with the completion of the process of building the political system at the level of authority and organization, we move as Palestinians – factions, forces, elected institutions, and community forces – to the most important stage, which constitutes one of the goals of the various electoral processes, which is the formulation of a comprehensive, unified and integrated struggle strategy to achieve the goals of Palestinian people.

According to Haniyeh, the strategy of the struggle is based on the principle of resistance in its various forms, using all the tools of struggle available to our people, and military resistance, with a focus on popular resistance at this stage.

It is noteworthy that the Palestinian factions began a dialogue yesterday, Tuesday, in Cairo, with the aim of overcoming obstacles to holding elections.

The first round of Cairo dialogues was held on February 8 and 9, during which the factions agreed on issues related to the elections.

In mid-January, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree setting the dates for elections during the current year: the legislative elections on May 22, the presidential elections on July 31, and the National Council on August 31.

The last Palestinian elections for the Legislative Council were held in early 2006, and resulted in Hamas winning the majority, a year earlier, for the presidency, in which the current president, Mahmoud Abbas, won.