Palestinian Leader Tries to Win Militant Truce
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The interim Palestine Liberation  Organization (PLO) leader hopes to persuade militants in talks  on Tuesday to halt attacks on Israel to allow a smooth election  for a successor to Yasser Arafat next year, officials said.
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GAZA CITY -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, confronting a brazen challenge to his authority, fired three top security commanders yesterday and issued a warning to Hamas after members of the militant Islamic group shelled Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip in violation of a truce announced two days before.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for the Palestinian Authority presidency, said yesterday that Palestinians wanted to begin negotiating final statehood terms
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A leader of the Palestinian faction Hamas says he is ready for talks with Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
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The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said Saturday they were adhering to a de facto truce with Israel, but stopped short of committing to the official cease-fire that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed on at their summit.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday vowed to 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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The top Palestinian decision-making body Sunday made its strongest appeal for militants to stop attacks since Yasser Arafat's death last November and replacement by President Mahmoud Abbas.
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JERUSALEM -- A local Hamas leader indicated yesterday the militant group would not attack Israelis during the Palestinian presidential campaign and would consider a formal truce with Israel in the latest signs of hope for renewed peace efforts in the region.
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Leaders of Palestinian Islamic militant factions are in Cairo for cease-fire talks with the Egyptians, days before Egypt is to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit, officials from the groups said in Gaza on Wednesday.
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New President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday  he was close to reaching a deal with militants to cease attacks  on Israelis, a step needed to relaunch Middle East peacemaking.
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GAZA CITY -- Palestinians and Israelis moved closer to halting more than four years of bloody violence yesterday, with the new Palestinian leader saying he had made progress toward a truce deal with militants. Israel pledged for the first time to hold fire if calm prevails.
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Palestinian militants fired more rockets  and mortars into Jewish settlements in Gaza on Tuesday, hours  before new President Mahmoud Abbas was due in the area to urge  a cease-fire he hopes could revive peacemaking with Israel.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Prominent Palestinian  figures appealed Sunday for an end to violence, adding weight  to the election campaign of moderate Mahmoud Abbas to succeed  Yasser Arafat and launch 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 came under strain in the Gaza Strip.
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Palestinian leaders tried on Monday to negotiate an end to a bloody standoff between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants who have been holed up in a refugee camp for more than a week.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - A Hamas leader said the  militant group could accept creation of a Palestinian state in  the West Bank and Gaza and a long-term truce with Israel,  signaling a possible new overture to end hostilities.
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Middle East News, GAZA, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has called for his people to pursue negotiations instead of violence in the struggle for a state, marking out a change of strategy for peace with Israel after Yasser Arafat&#39;s death.