Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he would discuss plans for new
parliamentary elections with all factions, including longtime rivals Hamas.

Meeting with senior Palestinian Authority leaders in Ramallah Sunday, Abbas renewed a pledge to hold the polls -- the first since 2006 -- but without giving a timeframe.

He announced they had formed committees to "communicate with the election commission and factions such as Hamas and all factions, as well as with the Israeli authorities".

He said any elections should take place in "the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip".

Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads since 2007, when the radical Islamist terror group
seized Gaza and threw out Abbas's forces, which retained control of the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria.

No parliamentary elections have been held since 2006, with the two sides trading blame.

Multiple attempts at reconciliation have failed and analysts say new elections are impossible without improved relations.

Hamas said in a statement Saturday it didn't "know what Abu Mazen means by general election", using the common nickname for Abbas.

The movement said it had already committed itself to elections.

Abbas has previously pledged on multiple occasions to hold elections but without any results.