GAZA. (PIC)-- Dr. Ahmad Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) said on Tuesday that the PLC takes its legitimacy from the amended Palestinian Basic Law, and stressed that the present PLC will continue until a new PLC is elected and its members are sworn in, in accordance with the Palestinian Basic Law.

Bahar, who was speaking at a press conference in Gaza City to comment on the attempts of the PA in Ramallah to transfer the authorities of the PLC to the PLO's Central Council after 24th January, said: "If the current attempts are aimed at depriving the present PLC of its right to practice its authority while [at the same time] extend the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas without any constitutional or legal basis then this foolish tendency is doomed to failure."

Bahar stressed that the PLC is not subject to the approval of any council, especially those councils that have lost their legitimacy a long time ago, in reference to the PLO councils such as the Palestinian National Council and the PLO's Central Council.

He added that to transfer the powers of the PLC to the Central Council violates the Palestinian Basic Law.

Bahar called on Muslim and Arab countries as well as other Paletinian factions to put an end to Abbas's dictatorial way through which Abbas is going to destroy the Palestinian political system.

Abbas and those around were behind the strangling of most of the PLO's institutions when they controlled the PLC and wanted no restrictions on how far they could go in negotiating with the Israeli occupation, as soon as Hamas won the majority of seets in the PLC they immediately sought to revive those institutions.