MIDDLE EAST: Mahmoud Abbas announced yesterday he would delay parliamentary elections scheduled for January 25th if Israel barred some 200,000 east Jerusalem residents from voting.
This was the first public statement by the Palestinian leader on the possibility that the elections might be postponed.
"We all agree that East Jerusalem should be included in the elections," Mr Abbas said on Al Jazeera television, during a visit to Qatar. "If it is not included, all the factions agree there should be no elections."
The remarks by Mr Abbas imply he has the backing of all Palestinian groups, including Hamas.
But a spokesman for the Islamic group, which presents the Palestinian leader and his ruling Fatah party with its main opposition in the upcoming election, said his organisation had not agreed to a delay.
There have been reports in recent weeks that Mr Abbas might put off the elections - possibly using the East Jerusalem issue as a pretext - because of the rise of Hamas and its expected strong showing in the elections.
Hamas, which is running on an anti-corruption platform and is promising law and order, has also benefited from the disarray within Fatah and the growing chaos in the territories, especially in Gaza.
In the latest example of mayhem, some 200 Palestinian police, firing their guns, briefly occupied several government buildings yesterday in Gaza. The police officers said they were protesting the Palestinian Authority's impotence in imposing law and order.
Last week, a Palestinian policeman and a 14-year-old boy were killed when a shoot-out erupted between police and a large Gaza clan trying to free a relative from a local jail.