The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (pictured), has called for presidential and legislative elections to be held on January 24 after rival factions failed to reach a unity deal in Egyptian-brokered talks.
Mohammed Dahlan, member of the Fatah Central Committee and former security chief in the Gaza strip was also born in a refugee camp in Khan younes. He answers France 24 questions.
The deadline for rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to sign an Egyptian-sponsored unity deal has been postponed, with Hamas saying it wanted an extension and amendments to the deal.
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah are to sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 26, Egypt's roreign minister, Ahmed Abul Gheit, announced after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) will convene the Palestinian National Council, which is the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's legislative branch, for the first time in more than a decade on Aug. 26.
Vote results released on Saturday show that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction elected an Israeli Jew to one of its governing bodies for the first time in its history. Uri Davis (pictured) will serve on the Revolutionary Council.
In this edition: Iranian authorities are uneasy over abuse allegations; in the West Bank, a focus on Fatah's major makeover; in Iraq, a law will ban smoking in public areas.
The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, told delegates at the Fatah party congress that peace talks would not resume until Israel has frozen all settlement activity in the occupied territories.
Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian politician who is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, has been elected to a leading post in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, according to initial results.
Vote counting has begun after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction cast votes for a new leadership for the first time in 20 years at a party congress in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
