Abbas urged not to quit

Supporters of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas turned out in the West Bank today to urge him run again for the presidency following his announcement that he did not want a second term in the job.

Waving flags, they greeted the president as he conducted a rare tour of towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, part of the territories where the Palestinians aim to establish a state.

The Fatah movement, which Abbas heads, had called for participation in the show of support.

"We need you," Hebron governor Hussein al-Araj told Abbas during a reception at which supporters urged him not to quit. In a short address, Mr Abbas did not respond to their calls.

Neither did he mention his future in any of a series of addresses he gave during the tour.

The scenes were broadcast live on official Palestine television, which has been airing pro-Abbas programmes, songs and poetry since his declaration on Thursday that he did not want to run in the election he recently scheduled for January 24th.

Many analysts believe his announcement could be a tactic to prompt the United States to put more pressure on Israel to halt all West Bank settlement building -- a step demanded by Mr Abbas for the resumption of peace talks.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, himself a settler heading an ultra-nationalist party, said he did not take Mr Abbas's threat seriously. But chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reiterated that Mr Abbas's announcement was a not a tactic.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate for his role in the first Israeli-Palestinian interim accord in 1993, urged Mr Abbas to stay on. He was speaking at a candlelit memorial for assassinated Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin.

Reuters