Palestinian elections campaign concluded, Abbas chooses Qurei as a prime minister

The PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of the Palestine national liberation movement Fatah for the elections of the Palestinian national authority presidency, said that there is no big difference between the Palestinian groups on fundamental issues concerning the Palestinian question.

In statements, Abbas called on the Palestinians to stop what he called the militarization of the Intifada and the disorder of weapons which "negatively affected the Palestinian people more than on Israel." Abbas, on the other hand, announced he will ask the current prime minister Ahmad Qurei to form a new government in case he wins the presidential elections which will be held on Sunday.

In the course of his election campaign which was concluded on Friday evening, Abbas vowed to make the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem a capital for the Palestinian state. This commitment was made during Abbas's visit to the quarters of East Jerusalem.

He promised that every and each future agreement with Israel -- linked to the future of the Palestinian people -- will go under referendum inside and outside Palestine, on the Palestinian territories or in the Diaspora.