RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has started his presidential campaign by promising a general referendum on peace.
Sources from the mainstream Fatah faction of the PLO said Abbas told the movement's leaders Saturday night he was committed to holding a general referendum on any final status agreement reached with Israel.
He said that would include agreements concerning borders, water, the fate of Jerusalem and more than 5 million Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee their homes in the 1948 Middle East war when the state of Israel was established.
He told the Fatah Revolutionary Council he is committed to the "national principles to achieve Palestinian aspirations in establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and finding a just agreement on the refugees in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 194."
According to the resolution, Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their homes and be paid compensation for property they lost upon the establishment of the Jewish state.
Abbas is standing for president of the Palestinian Authority in the Jan. 9 presidential election.
