Hamas will not recognize Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Authority president after Jan. 8.
A resolution approved Tuesday by the ruling Hamas legislators in the Gaza Strip demands that Abbas call for elections to be held in three months, when Hamas says his term is over, the Associated Press reported. Fatah says he has one year left in his term.
Abbas was elected president in January 2005 and his Fatah Party currently controls the West Bank. In 2006, the Islamic Hamas movement won parliamentary elections and in June of the following year took over Gaza.
Hamas says it will install its own temporary president in January if Abbas does not call new elections, according to the AP.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas delegation, including West Bank Hamas leaders, left for Cairo Tuesday to meet with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman and other government officials to seek ways to end the divide between Hamas and Fatah.
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