Palestinian leader says peace agenda is No. 1

Mahmoud Abbas said he doesn't mind if Hamas joins the parliament.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he'd rather resign than let extremists block his peace agenda, but he expressed hope the Islamic militant group Hamas would moderate its views if it shared power.
However, a Hamas leader ruled out talks with Israel and threatened to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Abbas acknowledged he was worn out after a year in power, but he denied a report in Israel's Maariv daily Wednesday that he was depressed and losing control.
Polls show Abbas' Fatah Party steadily losing ground to Hamas. A poll last week gave Fatah 35 percent of the vote, compared with 31 percent for Hamas. That represents a 10-percentage point gain for the militants in a month.
Abbas said after the election there would be no room for militias, the armed wings of Hamas and other groups, but he stopped short of promising the full-fledged crackdown that Israel demands. He added he would not allow guns at polling stations.
Differences
Fatah infighting has been blamed for the decline of the party that dominated Palestinian politics for four decades. By contrast, the disciplined Hamas has run a unified campaign and toned down its violent ideology in an attempt to appeal to mainstream voters.
Hamas' campaign brochures focus on clean government but do not mention "armed struggle" and the destruction of Israel, two planks of the group's founding charter. It remains unclear whether the softer message is a campaign tactic or part of Hamas' transformation into a political party.
Abbas is counting on the latter, hoping he can moderate Hamas by bringing it into the political fold.
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