Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he will call new legislative elections

Eighteen months after his Fatah movement was trounced at the polls, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he will call new legislative elections in a move seen as seeking to further isolate the Islamic militants of Hamas. Hamas said early elections would be illegal and warned they could lead to new violence. Abbas' aides said they expected the ballot by the end of this year or early 2008. His announcement came as the U.S. and other international mediators were moving to revive Mideast peace efforts. In a speech to the Palestine Central Council, Abbas denounced Hamas in the harshest terms, accusing the Islamic movement of staging a coup against him in the Gaza Strip and of provoking Israel and Egypt to seal Gaza's borders.