Leaders of Gaza Strip-ruling Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party on Monday argued over the end of the legal mandate of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), or the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

According to the Palestinian basic law, the four-year term for the PLC ends on Monday, four years after the Islamic movement won the legislative elections held in the Palestinian territories in January 2006, ousting Fatah party which dominated the parliament for 10 years.

Fatah party leaders say that from now and further, the legislative council, is not legal anymore and what is needed is to immediately head to the ballots to elect new parliament, while Hamas leaders say that the current parliament it dominates "is legal" until the sworn-in of the new elected parliament members.

Azzam al-Ahmad, head of Fatah party block in the parliament, rejected on Monday the call of the PLC speaker and senior Hamas leader in the West Bank Aziz al-Dewik for holding a special PLC session to discuss the legality of the parliament after its four- year old term ended.

"According to the Palestinian basic constitution, al-Dewik is not anymore the speaker of the council. The only person who is authorized to call for holding a special session for the parliament is President Mahmoud Abbas," al-Ahmad said in a press statement.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas movement's spokesman, told Xinhua that " the current parliament will be legal until new elections are held and the new elected legislatures do the sworn-in," adding "Hamas is not afraid from holding the elections, but only after ending the current division and reconciliation."

"The problem is not whether the parliament is legal or illegal, because according to the law, it is legal until the new elections are held. But the problem is with Abbas, who is not anymore representing the Palestinians after his mandate expired," said Abu Zuhri.

After Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force and ousted Abbas' security forces in June 2007, the parliament, which is dominated by the Islamic movement, has not held any session for West Bank and Gaza Strip legislatures nor made or approved any decision.

Fatah party and other left-wing and independent blocks in the parliament boycotted the PLC sessions in protest to Hamas takeover of Gaza by force. However, the Israeli arrest of around 40 lawmakers out of 132 PLC members, most of them from Hamas, had also disabled the parliament to convene.

Al-Dewik on Sunday called at a news conference in Ramallah for holding a special session for the council, with the participation of all members from all parties and blocks to study legal measures to keep the parliament acting until new elections are held.

Al-Dewik's call was made one month after the Central Council, the legislative body of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), had decided to extend the mandate term for both President Abbas and the parliament until holding new general elections in June 2010.

In fact, the Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections should have been held in the Palestinian territories by Monday, but a fierce power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, the biggest factions, blocked the holding of elections on time.

In October 2009, Abbas issued a decree to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 25, 2010, but Hamas rejected the decision while the election commission said it can not stage polls in Gaza.

Gaza and West Bank-based human rights groups have warned on Monday that the failure to hold the general presidential and legislative elections on time is endangering the credibility and the transparency of the Palestinian law and the democratic process.

Mekhemer Abu Se'da, a political science teacher at the Gaza- based al-Azhar University, said that the current argument between Fatah and Hamas is serving the narrow factional interests of the two groups, and unfortunately harms the national interests of the Palestinian people.

"I believe that starting from tomorrow (Tuesday) the Palestinians will not have legal president and legal parliament," Abu Se'da told Xinhua, adding "If the current feuds between Fatah and Hamas continue... I believe that the elections won't be held even in June."

The Gaza-based al-Mizan center for human rights said in a press release on Monday that "this day that passes without holding the general elections is a sad day for the Palestinian believers in democracy and freedom," warning of "a severe constitutional vacuum " if the Palestinian crisis goes on.