The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Ramallah

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas hit out at US-backed Middle East peace talks on Sunday on the eve of a White House meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President George W. Bush, saying that not one issue has been resolved.

He also pledged to call snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the New Year if there is no agreement with the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza to end the rift in Palestinian ranks. "So far we have not reached agreement on a single question-every issue remains up for discussion," Abbas told a key decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation under whose auspices the year-old negotiations with Israel are being held.

"Even if (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice or someone speaking in her name says, even if (Israeli Foreign Minister) Tzipi Livni or someone speaking in her name says that there are agreements being prepared, it's not true," he told the PLO Central Council.