GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) strongly denounced Salim Al-Zaanoun, the head of the Palestinian national council (PNC), for saying that the authorities of the PLC would be transferred to the PLO’s central council, which is a liaison council between the PLO's executive committee and the PNC.

In a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC), Dr. Dweik condemned such talk as illegal, saying the PLC is the master of itself and no one can abolish and replace it or take its powers because it is a standalone system.

He added that any unelected council cannot take the place of the PLC.

For his part, Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, the spokesman for Hamas parliamentary bloc, stated Sunday that the mandate of the PLC is four years according to the Palestinian basic law and until new elected members are sworn in, the current parliament is still active, noting that the previous PLC continued to work for 10 years.

Dr. Bardawil underlined that PLO’s central council has no power over the PLC and any talk other than that reflects imbalance in powers, infringement on the basic law, and some sort of "hectic political hallucination".

The lawmaker stressed that the threat to withdraw the authorities of the PLC is part of the same policy which has been pursued by Fatah since the first days of the victory of Hamas in the legislative elections.

He added that those who are conspiring today to usurp the PLC’s authorities are the same people who collaborated with the Israeli occupation to imprison Hamas lawmakers, tighten the siege on Gaza and carry out military aggression on the Gaza Strip with the aim of eliminating the Palestinian resistance and giving way to Israel’s lackeys to control the fate of Palestinian people.

In another context, Dr. Bardawil downplayed the talk about the possibility of declaring a Palestinian state by one side and seeking the recognition of the UN Security Council, saying that such talk is a waste of time and an attempt to escape from the Palestinians’ right to liberate their land and the national reconciliation.