Moderate Abbas emerges from Arafat shadow

A methodical man in a business suit, Mahmoud Abbas has backed up his words with deeds in the mere month since he won election as Palestinian president pledging to end four years of violence with Israel.

Since replacing the iconic Yasser Arafat, the veteran pragmatist, 69, has coaxed Islamic militants into a de facto ceasefire and deployed Palestinian security forces across the Gaza Strip with orders to prevent attacks on Israelis.

An ensuing sharp drop in violence drew Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 76, into a summit in Egypt yesterday, raising hopes of a new chapter in Middle East peacemaking.

Favoured by Israel and the United States as a man they can do business with, Mr Abbas has also thrown himself into convincing Palestinians that he is not the grey puppet of foreign powers.

The inscrutable Mr Abbas always preferred to work out of the public eye just as former guerilla leader Yasser Arafat revelled in it. Mr Abbas dressed in sober business suits while Mr Arafat stuck to his military-style uniform.

One of the few survivors from the early years of Mr Arafat's struggle for statehood, Mr Abbas had long served as the No. 2 in the Palestinian decision-making body, but was sidelined after losing a power struggle with Mr Arafat in 2003.

Subtly but swiftly, Mr Abbas established himself as the senior leader after Mr Arafat's death on November 11 at age 75. Mr Abbas was named head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the candidate of the dominant PLO Fatah movement for the election.

More than a decade ago, Mr Abbas took part in secret negotiations in Norway that allowed interim peace accords with Israel and gave Palestinians some self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr Arafat named Mr Abbas as premier in 2003 under foreign pressure and he quickly won favour from Israeli and US leaders as someone willing to try to halt violence, support democracy and curb corruption.

But that embrace eroded Mr Abbas's credibility at home as violence continued. On the campaign trail, he won the support of the street, winning the January 9 vote with 62.5 per cent of the vote.

During the campaign he went out of his way to ensure he is not marked down as anybody's stooge - referring to Israel at one point as the "Zionist enemy" using words that even Mr Arafat had shied from for years. Images of Mr Abbas borne on the shoulders of cheering gunmen also helped to change perceptions.

But at the same time, he kept to his mantra of ending armed struggle and refused to apologise to militants for telling them their rocket attacks on Israel were counterproductive.

Mr Abbas sticks closely to longtime Palestinian peace terms rejected by most Israelis - total withdrawal from occupied lands, what Palestinians see as a right of return to Israel for refugees and East Jerusalem becoming the capital of a future state.

The refugee issue is especially poignant for Mr Abbas. His family, from the Galilee town of Safed, was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of homes at the war of Israel's creation in 1948.