Abbas seeks early vote to end standoff
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Saturday for elections to end his violent standoff with Hamas &#151; a gamble that Palestinians will back him as he seeks to weaken the Islamic militants, avoid civil war and keep momentum for peace overtures with Israel.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, announced yesterday that he has decided to call early elections, including for his own office, to end a political crisis in the Palestinian territories that has brought a surge in factional violence over the past week.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 19 -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he is pushing ahead with early elections despite factional fighting that intensified after his initial call for a poll, and he appealed for international help in restarting peace talks with Israel.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday he would press on with early elections as a truce between his security forces and the Hamas government threatened to unravel in the Gaza Strip.
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President Mahmoud Abbas was meeting Sunday with officials from the Palestinian Central Election Commission, the first step toward holding early elections.
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Mahmoud Abbas wrapped up his campaign for president of the Palestinian Authority today with a call for negotiations for Israel.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday for Palestinian elections, throwing down the gauntlet to his Hamas rivals after days of factional violence that has sparked fears of civil war.
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Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has started his presidential campaign by promising a general referendum on peace.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faces  a crucial test of his new leadership on Tuesday when he visits  Gaza to try to persuade militants defying his calls for calm to  agree to cease attacks on Israel.
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MAHMOUD Abbas, the interim Palestinian leader, has called for an end to armed attacks against Israeli targets in an attempt to mark out a new strategy for peace in the wake of Yasser Arafatâs death.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday for fresh Palestinian elections, throwing down the gauntlet to his Hamas rivals after days of factional violence that has sparked fears of civil war.
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INTERIM Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, used his first official election campaign speech yesterday to demand the complete Israeli withdrawal of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the new chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, last night appealed to Gaza&#39;s rival factions to unite behind the task of arranging orderly elections 24 hours after a shooting which claimed the life of one of his own bodyguards.
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GAZA CITY: PLO leader Mahmud Abbas stepped up calls yesterday to end &quot;armed chaos&quot; engulfing the occupied territories, as the new Palestinian leadership readied the ground for presidential elections in January.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for Palestinian president, called on militants Sunday to stop firing rockets at Israel, as Israeli tanks and troops massed in northern Gaza in response to the latest barrage.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he will order early parliamentary and presidential elections in response to what he called last month's "coup" by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to press on with early elections as a truce between his security forces and the Hamas government threatened to unravel in the Gaza Strip.