Palestinians agree on date of elections

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GAZA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian factions have agreed on holding parliamentary and presidential elections by January 2010, sources said on Monday.

The agreement was reached by the elections committee, one of five committees the Palestinians formed while they held reconciliation talks in Cairo in a bid to end a widening schism between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the rival Islamic Hamas movement.

Ali al-Jarbawi, a Palestinian independent academic and a member of the elections committee, confirmed the reports that an agreement was reached over the elections, adding that the elections will also involve the Palestinian National Council (PNC)which is the highest legal body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

But Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad official and a member of the elections' committee, said his colleagues are still talking on the system of representation in the coming elections.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/16/content_11021292.htm