Hundreds march in Fatah demonstrations urging Abbas to run again

Nov 6, 2009, 12:04 GMT

Ramallah - Members of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party staged demonstrations Friday, urging the Palestinian president to run for a second term, while the rival Hamas movement quickly declared his announcement of the previous night that he would not an admission of 'failure.'

Fatah organized marches after Friday's prayers in Ramallah and a number of other West Bank towns, in which hundreds of supporters participated, calling on the moderate Palestinian president to reverse his decision to seek re-election.

The movement said it was planning larger rallies later in the weekend or next week.

In a televised address from his Ramallah headquarters late Thursday, Abbas said did not want to seek re-election and urged the Palestinian leadership to understand his wish.

He cited a stalemate with Israel, which is preventing the revival of peace negotiations, as the reason, as well as the failure of Hamas to accept a reconciliation proposal with his Fatah party.

In a statement sent to journalists, the radical Islamist Hamas was quick to describe Abbas' decision as 'a very clear declaration of the failure of his (pro-peace negotiations) programme, which has reached a dead end.'

Hamas called for a return to resistance, rather than to continue security cooperation with Israel.

Abbas, 74, said Thursday that he had informed the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee and Fatah's Central Committee that he is 'not interested in running for election' in the poll scheduled for January 24.