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RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government decided Monday to hold municipal elections in the West Bank in July, the first voting since Abbas’ Fatah movement was trounced by the militant Islamic Hamas in national polls four years ago.
Abbas’ rivals in Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, signaled they will not participate in the July 17 election, virtually guaranteeing that Fatah will reclaim key cities where Hamas won in the last round of local elections five years ago. But a Hamas boycott would likely also exclude Gaza from the voting and cloud any comparison of the rivals’ strengths.
