First woman enters race for Palestinian president

A Palestinian journalist from Jerusalem's walled Old City said yesterday she would run for president to succeed Yasser Arafat, becoming the first woman to enter the race.

Majeda Husni el-Batsh, who vowed to put Jerusalem high on the Palestinian agenda, joins a handful of long-shot challengers to frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate former prime minister who is the dominant Fatah group's choice for the Jan. 9 poll.

Mr Abbas, 69, who also replaced Mr Arafat as the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, is favoured by Israel and the United States as a leader seen capable of forging a peace agreement.

Ms Batsh, who resigned her job at the French Agence France Presse to run for president, said she wanted to highlight problems facing Palestinians living in Arab East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

"Some people said to me directly: 'No, we cannot accept at any time a woman to be president.' They don't accept the idea," Ms Batsh told a news conference. "It is a challenge."

The presidential elections are the Palestinians' first since 1996, when Mr Arafat was elected over a sole woman challenger who garnered 9.6 per cent of the vote.