Palestinian leader endorses Olmert for Israeli PM

ROME (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said
in remarks published on Wednesday that he hoped Israel’s
interim prime minister, Ehud Olmert, would win upcoming
elections in the Jewish state.

“We respect the free will of the Israelis. I hope that
Olmert wins. I know him well,” Abbas told Italy’s Corriere
Della Sera newspaper in an interview.

Abbas did not elaborate on his reason for backing Olmert.

Olmert assumed power after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon was incapacitated by a January 4 stroke, and his Kadima
Party is widely expected to sweep the March 28 poll.

Despite past praise for Abbas’s peacemaking efforts, Olmert
largely cut off diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority
after the Islamic militant group Hamas won its January 25
legislative election.

By contrast, Olmert’s top political rival, Labour Party
chief Amir Peretz, met Abbas last week in a bid to draw votes
and cast himself as a viable contender for ending the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trailing third in opinion polls ahead of the Israeli
elections is the right-wing Likud Party. Its leader, former
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, advocates a tough line on
Abbas until he disarms Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Abbas has ruled out a crackdown, citing fears of civil war
in the occupied West Bank and also the Gaza Strip, from which
Israel withdrew last year. But he wants Hamas, which is sworn
to Israel’s destruction, to soften its stance.

Asked if Hamas must recognize Israel if it wants to govern
the Palestinians, Abbas told Corriere: “I say it and I confirm
it.”