Palestinian presidential election frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Wednesday to follow the steps of the late leader Yasser Arafat to realize Palestinian national rights.

"The struggle process that Yasser Arafat started will not stop until the occupation ends and all Palestinian legitimate rights are achieved," he told a campaign rally in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

"There won't be any concessions on the constants of establishing the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," said Abbas, candidate of the Fatah Movement.

He also insisted that Israel must respect Palestinian refugees' right of return in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 194 and free all Palestinian prisoners.

He stressed the rule of the law and everyone is equal before the law.

Abbas also called for national unity and an end to internal fighting over political differences.

He ridiculed the criticism by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom for his first campaign statements on Dec. 25 in Ramallah.

"I heard the criticism made by Israeli Foreign Minister because I talked about Jerusalem and the refugees, but what do they want us to talk about so that we don't disappoint them?" he said.

Shalom said that the speech made by Abbas at the start of his election campaign did not sound promising and that one could not promote illusions about the issue of Jerusalem and the refugees.

Abbas said the Israelis must withdraw from all Palestinian territories which it occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, including East Jerusalem, and that a just solution must be found to the refugees issue based on Resolution 194.

Earlier on Wednesday, Abbas held his first election rally in Jericho, where he was also warmly received by about four-thousand supporters.

Israel is quietly backing Abbas, who is the clear front-runner in opinion polls -- considering him a moderate pragmatist.

But with his constant references to Arafat's legacy, some Israelis wonder if Abbas is trying to trade on Arafat's popularity, or whether, once in office, he will be as uncompromising as his predecessor.

(Xinhua News Agency, CRI.com December 30, 2004)