The FINANCIAL -- TEL AVIV, Israeli President Shimon Peres has urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to stay in power despite a stalemate in the Middle East peace process.

"We both signed the Oslo accords and I turn to you as a colleague, don't let go," Peres said at a public rally held in a Tel Aviv square in commemoration of Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated in 1995.

Abbas, who was considered the frontrunner for the upcoming presidential election, said on Thursday he notified his companions of his "desire not to run in the elections" that his associates linked to a stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian and inter-Palestinian settlement.

A document to reconcile the two largest Palestinian factions - Islamist movement Hamas and Abbas-led Fatah - was put forward by Cairo in early September. In the summer of 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and pushed Fatah out of the enclave.

Hamas said Abbas's call for the elections the president scheduled for January 24 was illegal as it had not been agreed upon with the group, and the president's term formally expired in January 2009.

In October, Hamas said Palestinians in the Gaza Strip must not take part in the elections or face persecution.

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