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Occupied Jerusalem/Nablus: Senior Palestinian officials have made it clear to the United States and the European Union that new parliamentary and presidential elections are unlikely to be held near-term, Western officials said yesterday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the secular Fatah faction, has said he would soon issue decrees calling for early elections despite opposition from Hamas Islamists who seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.
Abbas has not said when those elections might be held. Hamas has said it would be unconstitutional for Abbas to call early elections. Abbas dismissed a Hamas-led government and appointed a Western-backed administration in the West Bank.
Dormant peace
Meanwhile, violence took place after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Thursday aimed at reviving the dormant peace process between the two sides.
Israeli troops have shot dead a leader of the radical Islamic Jihad group in the West Bank and wounded three people during an incursion into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said yesterday. In another incident, Palestinian militants fired three rockets from Gaza into southern Israel early yesterday, slightly wounding one person and causing minor damage, a military source said.
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