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Baghdad States and its Western allies, raq’s supreme court all of which oppose the poll. yesterday ordered the A Kurdish delegation is suspensionI of a September expected on Tuesday for talks Supreme court steps 25 referendum on the in Baghdad, while Abadi has independence of Iraqi left for New York to attend Kurdistan, as legal and the UN General Assembly. political pressure mounted Britain’s Defence Secretary on the Kurds to call off the Michael Fallon said he would vote. try to persuade Barzani at a in to block Iraq Kurd With just a week left before meeting later yesterday in the polling, the court said it “has Kurdish capital of Arbil. issued the order to suspend “I will be this afternoon in organising the referendum Arbil to tell Massud Barzani set for September 25... that we do not support the until it examines the Kurdish referendum,” he independence vote complaints it has received said at a press conference in over this plebiscite being Baghdad. unconstitutional”. “We are committed Court spokesman Ayas to the integrity of Iraq. al-Samouk said it had We are working with the “received several complaints”, UN on alternatives to this as a parliamentary source referendum,” he said before said at least eight lawmakers leaving for the northern had called on the court to city. intervene on constitutional The United States and grounds. other Western nations are Prime Minister Haider backing a UN-supported al-Abadi’s office said it had “alternative” plan for also filed a complaint against immediate negotiations on the referendum in the oil- future relations in exchange rich autonomous Kurdish for dropping the referendum. region of northern Iraq on Washington argues that constitutional grounds. the vote will weaken Arab- There was no immediate Kurdish joint military reaction from Iraqi Kurdish operations that have helped leader Massud Barzani, who to send Islamic State jihadists called the referendum and into retreat in both Iraq and has so far resisted pressure war-torn Syria. from Baghdad and Iraq’s Israel is alone in openly Iraqi Kurds fly Kurdish flags during an event to urge people to neighbours Turkey and Iran, supporting Kurdish vote in the upcoming independence referendum in Arbil, the as well as from the United independence. (AFP) capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq Palestinian premier plans Gaza visit after Hamas concessions Ramallah alestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah is poised to visit PGaza for talks, a senior official said yesterday, after Hamas agreed steps towards resolving a decade-long split with its West Bank-based rival Fatah. Hamas announced Sunday it had agreed to demands by president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party to dissolve what is seen as a rival administration in Gaza, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations towards forming a unity government. Hamdallah plans to travel to Gaza City to meet Hamas officials and assert the government’s control over ministries, Nabil Shaath, a senior adviser to Abbas, told Palestinian premier Rami Hamdallah at Al-Aqsa Mosque (file photo) journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as a first step towards civil war in 2007. based organisation’s spokesman implementing a larger agreement. Hamdallah has not visited the Mahmoud Afifi said in a “We await the first steps on territory since 2015, and a previous statement. the ground. We want to see Mr attempt at a unity government fell In recent months Abbas has Hamdallah received by Hamas, the apart that year, with the two sides sought to squeeze Hamas by door to all the ministries open,” he exchanging blame. reducing power supply to the strip, said. “That really could happen in The head of the Arab League with the two million residents the next 24 hours.” yesterday hailed the steps taken receiving only three or four hours Abbas’s internationally by Hamas and called for full of mains electricity per day as a recognised Palestinian Authority reconciliation. result. (PA) is located in the Israeli- Ahmed Aboul Gheit He has also reduced the salaries occupied West Bank, but it has had “welcomes the important positive of some employees in Gaza, while no control in Gaza for a decade developments” regarding “ending the number of Gazans receiving PA -- after the Islamist movement the division” between the permits to travel for medical care Hamas seized the territory in a near Palestinian factions, the Cairo- has declined. (AFP)