PLO leader Abbas vows to make statehood dream a reality

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Cloaking himself in Yasser Arafat's legacy, interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged Saturday in his first official campaign speech to fulfill Palestinian dreams of statehood.

Abbas, the front-runner in the upcoming presidential election on Jan. 9, called on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. He said he had chosen the path of peace and negotiations.

"Israel must pull out of all Palestinian lands occupied in 1967. We must end the occupation," Abbas said to a cheering crowd of hundreds of supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We cannot compromise on Jerusalem."

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast War. Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital.

"We are choosing the path of peace and negotiation," Abbas said. "If there is no peace here, there will be no peace in the Middle East or the rest of the world."

The Abbas campaign rally began with a moment of silence for Arafat, who died in a French hospital on Nov. 11.

Abbas has gained legitimacy from his close, albeit rocky, ties to Arafat. Abbas has placed Arafat's image on his campaign posters and sprinkled his speech with references to the late leader. Abbas visited Bethlehem on Christmas Eve - a traditional gesture made by Arafat, until Israel started barring him from attending in 2001.

In his speech Saturday, Abbas promised to hold parliamentary elections in the first half of 2005, shortly after the January presidential race.

Earlier Saturday, Abbas supporters braved the rain and cold to hang large banners of Abbas and Arafat on the sides of buildings. "Comrades of the revolution, peace of the brave," one banner declared.

"The end of the occupation, the security of the people, the development of the country," another banner said.

Abbas said peace with Israel was conditional on the release of all Palestinian prisoners, especially jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti.

Barghouti had initially planned to run for president, providing Abbas with stiff competition, but pulled out under intense pressure from members of the ruling Fatah party.

Listing his priorities, Abbas told supporters of the ruling Fatah party that he was determined to provide security to his people and continue the struggle against Israel's partially completed West Bank barrier.

The barrier, which dips into the West Bank in some areas, has divided some Palestinian towns and at times separates farmers from their land and children from their schools. Despite widespread international condemnation, Israel has pressed continued construction of the 425-mile barrier, which is about one-third complete.

Abbas also pledged to resolve the problem of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Abbas, a refugee himself from what is today the northern Israeli city of Safed, called the refugee issue "very important and very dangerous."

The refugees, who fled or were forced to flee their homes when Israel was established in 1948, want to return to their former homes.

Differences over the refugee issue and Jerusalem have been the most contentious issues in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

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