Israeli border policemen take position during clashes with Palestinian protesters as they a protest against Israeli settlements, in the village of Mughayer, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021.
Elections would pose a major risk for Abbas' Fatah party and also for Hamas, which welcomed the decree.
Abbas' Palestinian Authority is confined to the occupied West Bank, where it administers major population centers according to agreements with Israel.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Abbas, 85, has led the Palestinian Authority and the PLO since the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004 and has no clear successor.