Abbas insists will hold elections, truce strained
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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 came under strain in the Gaza Strip.
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PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas today appeared to be guaranteed victory in the Palestinian presidential election after the withdrawal of his chief rival, but an upsurge of violence underlined the scale of the challenge ahead.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is considering calling presidential and legislative elections to strengthen his position, a top aide said yesterday, a move that could deepen the split between the West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may call early elections on Saturday in a much anticipated speech after violence between his Fatah group and the ruling Hamas movement stirred fears of civil war.
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Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that peace talks with Israel must continue despite the escalating confrontation between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza.
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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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Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate in next week's presidential election, on Monday promised Palestinian refugees they'll be able to return home one day &#151; his most explicit comment yet on an explosive issue that has derailed peace talks in the past.
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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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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that militant groups promised to suspend attacks on Israel in hopes of ending a nearly 2-month-long Israeli crackdown in the Gaza Strip.
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he will call for new elections for parliament and the presidency.
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Militant groups behind many suicide bombings dismissed a call from interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to halt attacks in the days leading up to a Jan. 9 election to replace Yasser Arafat.
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Palestinian president says he will order parliamentary and presidential ballots, despite Hamas objections.
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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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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas are to sound out militant groups on extending a ceasefire with Israel from Gaza to the West Bank, officials said on Wednesday.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President   Mahmoud Abbas on Monday put off talks with Hamas aimed at   breaking a stalemate over forming a unity government, in a sign   of deep internal divisions.
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JERUSALEM - A senior Palestinian official called reports of a Mideast peace agreement premature, but said Israelis and Palestinians have agreed on the logistics of the upcoming elections to replace Yasser Arafat.
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Abu Mazen, the new PLO chairman, was seeking last night to secure a ceasefire during the planned Palestinian elections, a move which would add to pressure on the Israeli government