PA president: No deal with Israel on any issue; says he will meet Olmert for last time on October 27.
By JPOST.COM STAFFAbbas ponders 224.88(photo credit: AP)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he was not intending to step down from office when his term ends in January 2009, hinting also that he would run again for PA president in 2010.
"According to Clause 34 of the Palestinian constitution, the elections for parliament and the presidency must take place concurrently," Abbas said. As Palestinian parliamentary elections are not due to take place before 2010, his statement indicates that he might remain in office until then.
"Every other step that would be made would be illegal," he told a local paper. "We have consulted six Egyptian legal experts and they all concurred that the elections must take place according to [Palestinian] law," he said. "I am ready for elections immediately.
Today, tomorrow or even yesterday," he said.
Earlier, Abbas said Cairo sent all Palestinian factions the draft of an agreement expected to constitute the basis of a dialogue scheduled for November 9. The draft contains several articles, among which is the establishment of a national unity government until the parliamentary elections are due, and also embedding Hamas within the PLO and reorganizing the Palestinian security network.
Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Abbas said that throughout the negotiations with Israel he made clear that he was not willing to accept partial or temporary solutions and would not postpone ironing out certain issues.
"Even though there are 12 committees discussing various outstanding issues, we have not reached agreement on any of them," Abbas said. He added that next Monday, he would be holding his last meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
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