Ramallah - Ma'an - In a presidential decree on Friday, President Mahmoud Abbas set the next Palestinian elections for 24 January 2010.

In Ramallah, he said the vote would be held in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Abbas also said legislative and presidential elections would be held simultaneously.

The PLO's central council will likely approve Abbas' decree on Saturday.

The announcement came days after Hamas failed to sign an Egyptian-backed reconciliation agreement that called for elections on 28 June 2010.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Radwan called the move "a blow to efforts made toward conciliation and a response to American orders, in service to the occupation and an outside agenda, and to deepening the Palestinian division."

In an interview with Ma'an, he added, "Mahmoud Abbas lacks legitimacy and has no right to issue a decree for holding elections that should be held within a national agreement."

Some have suggested that in the event the de facto government in Gaza refuses to hold elections in January, Abbas could issue another decree extending the date rather than holding elections only in the West Bank.

But it would be difficult for individual Hamas lawmakers to dismiss the prospect of holding elections, however, since all Gaza-based members of the Palestinian Legislative Council will stop receiving their salaries, as well as allowances for water, power and other services, on 25 January. Unless they are elected again, new lawmakers will begin collecting Hamas' benefits there.

Another issue would be the technical details. However, Fatah learned over the summer that it was possible to vote from Gaza through a variety of means, since the de facto government banned most members from attending the party convention in Bethlehem. A committee formed to study the issue has suggested technologies such as SMS and email could be easily implemented.

"We are studying the experience of the Jordanian parliament in the 1960s, and how the king used to appoint parliament members to the West Bank without holding [local] elections," said one Fatah-affiliated PLC member on the condition of anonymity.

The decree was issued just three hours after Abbas wrapped up a phone call with US President Barack Obama, leading some analysts to suspect that it was declared with full backing by the United States, and possibly also the European Union and International Quartet.