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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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Last update - 13:32 20/11/2009
Israel conducting secret talks with Hamas, Abbas says
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Israel is currently conducting secret negotiations with Hamas.

In an interview with the BBC in Arabic, Abbas said that the talks between Israel and Hamas revolved around a Palestinian state with temporary borders.

The Palestinian president reiterated his criticism against Israel, saying that Jerusalem wasn't truly interested in peace, adding that "Washington isn't pushing Israel enough to advance the peace process."
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Hamas denied Abbas' assertion, saying that no secret talks with Israel had been held. "The things that Abu Mazen [Abbas] is talking about never happened," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum to a Palestinian website, accusing the Palestinian president of "putting his personal political failure on Hamas."

"We don't negotiate with the enemy," Barhoum said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said presidential and legislative
elections scheduled for January will be postponed, confirming
that he has accepted advice not to hold the vote.

In the interview, Abbas said that the Palestinian leadership would take measures to avoid a constitutional vacuum when the term of the current legislature and his term as president expire on Jan. 25.

He did not say what measures would be taken to avoid a constitutional vacuum.

Abbas also said he would not seek a second term as president. He had previously said he had no desire to run in the elections which had been scheduled for Jan. 24.

His announcement reflected frustration with the stalled peace process and what the Palestinians see as the failure of the United States to put pressure on Israel to halt settlement activity in land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Central Election Commission announced last week it had advised Abbas to put off the election because Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip where some 1.5 million Palestinians live, had warned it would not allow them to vote.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The Islamist group disputes Abbas's legitimacy.

"Now for a realistic reason, due to certain conditions - because of the rejection of Hamas and its threat to prevent (voting) by force, naturally they will be delayed, or the time of the elections will come later," Abbas said.

"It is better for us that Hamas accepts the holding of elections. But if that doesn't happen, then the Palestinian leadership must take measures," he said.

Senior members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which Abbas heads, told Reuters this week they expected the body to effectively extend Abbas's term at a meeting in December.

The PLO and the Fatah faction which dominates it have both called on Abbas to stay on as leader. Abbas heads both bodies.

Abbas sidestepped a question on whether he would stay in his position until elections were held. "Perhaps they will be delayed by a year, or less, I don't know. What I am saying now is that I will not be a candidate," he said.

Asked if he had taken a final decision not to seek a second term, Abbas said: "This is a final decision, even if matters change." He added: "I have taken a decision not to run."

Abbas called the Jan. 24 vote after Hamas refused to sign an Egyptian proposal that would have scheduled elections for June.

Hamas says it has reservations about the Egyptian proposal, which aims to promote reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

"There must be elections but I don't say elections in the West Bank without Gaza, for example, or without Jerusalem," he said, in reference to parts of the city occupied by Israel in 1967. Abbas aims to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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  1.   Fatah/Hamas hatred for each other far deeper than for Israel. 23:34  |  common sense 19/11/09
  2.   no secret talks with Israel had been held 23:56  |  vik 19/11/09
  3.   A Good Idea for Israel 01:52  |  Mark Lincoln 20/11/09
  4.   ridiculous 03:09  |  shoot 20/11/09
  5.   They should have been doing this all along... 04:46  |  Dutch 20/11/09
  6.   "we don`t negotiate" 05:30  |  Alfredo 20/11/09
  7.   Netanyahu has what he wanted 06:09  |  Mark Lincoln 20/11/09
  8.   Hamas say`s "we won`t negotiate with the enemy" 07:39  |  Mark Lincoln 20/11/09
  9.   Abbas speaking in Arabic to the Palestinian street 08:17  |  allang 20/11/09
  10.   who believes ths? 08:30  |  Jochai 20/11/09
  11.   Current policy: talk `in secret`, do the opposite in public... 08:36  |  Esther 20/11/09
  12.   To Lincoln (not honest Abe) #s 3, 7, and 8 08:41  |  Jania 20/11/09
  13.   #8 your posts are nothing but lies and fantasies 09:08  |  McQueen 20/11/09
  14.   abbas 09:46  |  gary albert 20/11/09
  15.   What Secret? 10:41  |  Mark of Lewiston 20/11/09
  16.   McQueen and Jania are misled by Israeli 11:45  |  r cummings 20/11/09
  17.   Abbas and peace 23:22  |  clarity 20/11/09
  18.   I don`t understand what the two Mark L`s visualize, but ... 12:58  |  S 21/11/09
  19.   Lincoln - Time to wake up 21:48  |  *BEN JABO 21/11/09
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