Palestinian group to pick Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas (right) co-founded Fatah with Yasser Arafat

The main Palestinian political faction, Fatah, is set to pick Mahmoud Abbas as its candidate to succeed Yasser Arafat in January's presidential poll.

"We decided... to have... [Mr Abbas] as the candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority," Social Affairs Minister Intissar al-Wazir said.

The nomination will be put to the Fatah council for approval, she added.

Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is seen as a moderate and he has frequently negotiated with Israel.

The 69-year-old was named as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) after Arafat died on 11 November.

Correspondents say the Fatah Revolutionary Council is certain to approve Mr Abbas' nomination on Thursday given the central committee's unanimous vote for him.

Critic of violence

The BBC's Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says it was expected that Mr Abbas would be proposed as successor to Arafat in the latter's political organisation that became the biggest faction in the PLO.

Our correspondent says Mr Abbas is generally thought to be a pragmatist who, if elected, will try to lead the Palestinians out of the current armed conflict with Israel.

Mr Abbas is an outspoken critic of the violence that has been used in the four-year-old Palestinian intifada and tried to get Islamic militants to end attacks on Israel.

Mr Abbas lacks Arafat's charisma and fighting pedigree and a number of armed Palestinian groups have already sworn opposition to him, he adds.

Other potential successors to Arafat include Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who has effectively become the head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Farouk Kaddoumi, who was appointed head of Fatah after Arafat's death.

Mr Abbas co-founded Fatah with Arafat and was the PA's prime minister from May 2003 until his resignation almost four months later, after losing a power struggle with Arafat.