Abbas threatens early elections

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he will call elections in early 2009 if unity talks between his Fatah faction and its Hamas rivals do not begin by the beginning of next year. Elections remain unlikely, as Abbas's government currently rules only the West Bank while the terror group Hamas forcefully controls the Gaza Strip. The violent split has paralyzed the Palestinians' attempts at establishing a democratic system, as Hamas stifles all political opposition in the Strip with brutal force. Abbas was speaking Sunday in Ramallah to leaders of the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organization.  Hamas says Abbas's term in office is up on January 9, 2009.  The call for early elections was seen by some as an attempt by Abbas to remain in power by making an offer he believes Hamas will reject. Meanwhile, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has denounced Hebrew- and English-language newspaper ads published by Abbas in Israeli papers. Speaking in Damanscus on Sunday, Mashaal said Palestinian rights can only be regained through resistance, not advertisements, and criticized continued contact between Abbas and Israeli leadership despite ongoing Israeli "crimes" in Gaza, and settlement building in the West Bank. The full-page ads published by Abbas in three Hebrew-language newspapers and in The Jerusalem Post in English this week explained to Israelis that a withdrawal from Palestinian territories would bring full recognition by the Arab world. The ads were a rehash of the so-called Arab Peace Initiative, which Israel said is a base for discussion but is unacceptable in its current form.

  Hamas quickly rejected the proposal, saying the idea was "unconstitutional".  Mr Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority, had previously indicated he intended to remain in office a further year - the term of the Hamas-led parliament. "If the dialogue with Hamas fails, early next year I will call for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections," he told members of his Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in the West Bank town of Ramallah.  'True intention' : But Hamas - which has repeatedly stressed its opposition to any extension of Mr Abbas' term in office - quickly asserted its opposition to the plan for early polls.  "This call by the president reflects his real intention, that he wants the national conciliation talks only to extend his term," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in Gaza, which the Islamist organisation controls. "So if he cannot achieve this through talks, he wants to get it through pressure by calling for elections." Hamas also rejects calls for early parliamentary elections.  The movement won a clear majority in the Palestinian parliament in the election of January 2006. It seized control of the Gaza Strip last year and has clashed with Mr Abbas's supporters there and in the West Bank.  Mr Abbas was elected for a four-year term in January 2005.   Israel's military establishment also appears lukewarm on the value of new Palestinian elections. A report by the country's National Security Council on Sunday said it could be in Israel's interests to "prevent" early polls to avoid the prospect of further gains for Hamas, Israeli media said.