From correspondents in Ramallah
November 24, 2008
PALESTINIAN leader Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of Palestine today by a key decision-making body of the PLO, amid tensions with rival Islamists, officials said.
The symbolic vote was taken at a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's 120-member Central Council, with a majority electing Mr Abbas to the post of "president of the State of Palestine", they said.
Mr Abbas is already president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) but his four-year term of office expires on January 8.
The move is expected to strengthen his standing with his rivals in the Islamist Hamas movement, who have threatened to stop recognising Mr Abbas's authority from January 9.
Mr Abbas is also chairman of the PLO, which is negotiating peace with Israel and head of the mainstream Fatah party.
Since June last year, Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip after violent clashes which drove out Fatah from the impoverished territory.
The move has divided the Palestinians, with Mr Abbas's power practically confined only to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where his headquarters are located.
Earlier today, Mr Abbas threatened to call snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the New Year if there is no agreement with the Hamas to end the rift in Palestinian ranks.
"If the dialogue does not succeed, then at the start of next year we will issue a presidential decree calling parliamentary and presidential elections," Mr Abbas told the Central Council, which has the power to dissolve the PA.
But Hamas swiftly rejected his threat, saying he had no powers to dissolve the current parliament in which they won a large majority in the last elections in 2006.
Veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died four years ago, proclaimed symbolically the State of Palestine in 1988 and was declared its first president.
November 24, 2008
PALESTINIAN leader Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of Palestine today by a key decision-making body of the PLO, amid tensions with rival Islamists, officials said.
The symbolic vote was taken at a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's 120-member Central Council, with a majority electing Mr Abbas to the post of "president of the State of Palestine", they said.
Mr Abbas is already president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) but his four-year term of office expires on January 8.
The move is expected to strengthen his standing with his rivals in the Islamist Hamas movement, who have threatened to stop recognising Mr Abbas's authority from January 9.
Mr Abbas is also chairman of the PLO, which is negotiating peace with Israel and head of the mainstream Fatah party.
Since June last year, Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip after violent clashes which drove out Fatah from the impoverished territory.
The move has divided the Palestinians, with Mr Abbas's power practically confined only to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where his headquarters are located.
Earlier today, Mr Abbas threatened to call snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the New Year if there is no agreement with the Hamas to end the rift in Palestinian ranks.
"If the dialogue does not succeed, then at the start of next year we will issue a presidential decree calling parliamentary and presidential elections," Mr Abbas told the Central Council, which has the power to dissolve the PA.
But Hamas swiftly rejected his threat, saying he had no powers to dissolve the current parliament in which they won a large majority in the last elections in 2006.
Veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died four years ago, proclaimed symbolically the State of Palestine in 1988 and was declared its first president.
Source: The Australian from Agence France-Presse
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