CRI听力: Abbas Announces Quitting Elections Under Strong Pressure

"I have informed my colleagues in both the executive committee for the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the central committee for Fatah of my unwillingness to run for the next elections. Such a decision is not to blackmail anybody and is not a tactic … I will be taking other steps in the near future."

However, the careful wording in Abbas' televised Thursday speech has left room more or less for people to guess that he may not be one hundred percent resolute.

Taher Nunu, a spokesman of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he did not believe the announcement.

"The speech is a kind of manoeuvring. That's it. It's not only addressed to the Palestinian people but also as to the United States and the international community, to give him more power ahead of elections and in the future."(www.hxen.net)

In fact, as his aides said, the leader did receive a flurry of calls from regional leaders, including the presidents of Egypt and Israel, the king of Jordan and Israel's defence minister, all urging him to change his mind.

Avi Issacharoff, Ha'aretz newspaper's Arab affairs correspondent, offers his opinion.

"My personal feeling is that until the real resignation we will see a major pressure on Abbas from Egypt, from Jordan, from the US, of course European countries, the Israelis, everyone will ask, demand, push him; stay in your office. And I guess that at the end of the day he won't have any other choice."

Support also comes from within the Palestinian territory.

"I think that this is a big loss for the Palestinian people and we hope and pray that he changes his mind because we need him to be leading us as since he has started he has changed the image of the Palestinian people world wide."

"I think it's too bad to look for another person than Abu Mazen (Abbas) so I think it's better to be Abu Mazen for the next period."

Abbas' aides say his decision is made out of frustration over lack of progress with Israel.

Still, it is not even clear whether elections will be held in the first place, as Hamas has said it would not participate.

Damin, CRI news.