Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said he is close to calling new legislative elections, a move designed to freeze the Hamas militant group from power.
Abbas said last week that he wants to hold a new vote following Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which trounced Abbas' Fatah party in 2006 legislative elections, has said it will boycott a new vote.
In a speech to a visiting US delegation yesterday, Abbas said he would soon order the election.
"The time has come for us to issue the required decrees for early elections," he said. Abbas did not say when he would issue the decree or give a date for the vote.
Abbas aides have said they expect elections by early 2008.
Calling the vote is sure to deepen animosities with Hamas. Abbas said Gaza would be included in the elections, underlining his claim to be the legitimate authority of all Palestinians.
"We will not exclude Gaza. Gaza is part of the Palestinian land," he said. However, it remains unclear how he could carry out a vote in the Hamas-controlled territory, home to about one-third of the Palestinian population.
Since the Gaza takeover, Abbas has formed a pro-Western emerge
At yesterday's event, the United States announced a program providing $228 million in loans to Palestinian businesses. Funding will come from a variety of sources, including the US, Norway, the state-run Palestine Investment Fund and the nonprofit Aspen Institute.
US Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes said the program was part of the US plan to support Abbas and "lay the foundations for a successful Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza."
Palestinian officials have said Abbas wants to hold elections before Israel releases dozens of Hamas legislators it has arrested, pre-empting the possibility that they could return to parliament and vote the caretaker government from power. Israel is unlikely to release the legislators until Hamas frees an Israeli soldier captured last summer.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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