 President-elect Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday the Palestinians intend to start carrying out their commitments under a US-backed "road map" charting a path towards statehood and peace with Israel. The road map calls on Palestinians to end all violence and crack down on militants while Israelis are meant to pull back troops from some areas and freeze settlement growth. "There are mutual obligations in the road map and we're serious about starting to implement our obligations immediately," Abbas told Christian clergymen visiting the Muqata headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. "We hope the Israelis will implement as well their obligations according to the road map," said Abbas, who was elected on Sunday to succeed Yasser Arafat as president. |