Mahmoud Abbas

Often known by his nickname Abu Mazen, Mr Abbas is a veteran of the struggle for Palestinian statehood

¤ Mr Abbas, 70, long served as former President Yasser Arafat's deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which he also now heads.

¤ Bespectacled, mild-mannered and given to wearing dark business suits, Mr Abbas cuts a different figure to the flamboyant, khaki-clad Yasser Arafat. A veteran leader in the dominant Palestinian faction Fatah, Mr Abbas grew wealthy working in business in Gulf states.

¤ Mr Abbas was born in the town of Safed in what is now Israel. He and his family were refugees who left their home during the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation. He is only known to have gone back to Safed once since returning from abroad in 1994.

¤ Mr Abbas wants to parlay the truce he declared with Mr Sharon at a February summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh into peace talks on a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with a capital in Arab East Jerusalem.

¤ Although he has branded the armed Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000 as counterproductive, Mr Abbas's positions on key peace issues echo those of Mr Arafat. Mr Abbas's truce deal with militants has dramatically reduced, but not stopped, violence.

¤ After Mr Arafat died last year, Mr Abbas was elected by a landslide to succeed him with just over 62 per cent of the vote. But he now faces electoral challenges from Islamist rivals, who are fuming over his postponement of July parliamentary elections, and a Fatah old guard resisting his reform efforts.