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Abbas calls for early elections

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday called for early presidential and parliamentary elections during a speech from his West Bank headquarters.

"The people are the source of our authority," he said. "I will return to the people in and let them decide."

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An Abbas aide said the elections would be set next week and a vote held within three months.

The governing Sunni Islamist Hamas movement immediately rejected Abbas' announcement, YNetNews reported.

The Fatah party's Abbas, often portrayed as the face of Palestinian moderation, condemned the recent violence raging in Gaza and the West Bank and against Israel. He declared rockets recently launched at Israel's southern Negev district had prevented progress in Gaza.

He said the Hamas-assisted kidnapping of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit had "cost 500 dead and 4,000 wounded and thousands of ruined houses from the resulting war on Gaza."

He also urged Hamas to accept international demands from the Palestinian government, including recognition of previous agreements with Israel. He said one such agreement, the Oslo accords, was part of the mechanism that let Hamas run for election in the first place.

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