Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he would not seek re-election after his four-year term ends in 2009.

Abbas made the remarks after attending a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of his election to succeed the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah." I have worked and will work to reinforce democracy and implement my program that I presented before I was elected," Abbas asserted.

He welcomed the Israeli cabinet's decision to allow Palestinians living in east Jerusalem to vote in the Palestinian legislative elections on Jan. 25.

Abbas threatened to postponed the elections if Israel prevented east Jerusalem residents from voting out of its opposition to Hamas participation in the first parliamentary elections in ten years.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2006)