 The two main contenders in next week's Palestinian parliamentary election pledged to avoid violence on voting day and work together afterward, but a Hamas leader ruled out peace talks with Israel. The no-violence pledge came Wednesday in Gaza, coupled with a promise that the ruling Fatah and its main challenger, the militant Islamic Hamas, will work together after the Jan. 25 election. It was a tacit admission by Fatah that Hamas will be a significant factor in the new parliament. Hamas, running for the first time, is set to take advantage of voter dissatisfaction with a decade of Fatah rule because of widespread corruption and inefficiency, as well as its inability to control internal violence, some of it directly connected to the election. |