An internal dispute on a unified candidate list for his Fatah movement and the outside pressure from Israel to rein in militant attacks remain two major issues for Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected Palestinian President almost one year ago, analysts said.

Inside the ruling Fatah, which is currently led by Abbas, a divide between the old guard and a young generation resulted in two rival lists for the upcoming legislative elections due on Jan.25.

"Holding the legislative elections on its scheduled date and facing internal disputes in Fatah put Abbas in a very sensitive situation," said Mohamed Abu Shabab, a Palestinian analyst from Gaza.

The rift in Fatah would endanger its performance in the elections in which it will face a grave challenge from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Gaza analyst said. Besides the internal dispute, the Palestinian leader also finds himself standing in the middle between militant groups and Israel who keep tit-for-tat actions.

"The scene looks like Abbas standing in the middle between the militants, who never stop firing at Israel, and Israel, who never stops its tough retaliation on the Palestinians," said Salim Abu Shammalah, a Palestinian political analyst. Abu Shammalah said despite the fact that Abbas has been in the crossfire of Israel and the militants, "he is still a powerful man that can lead the Palestinian people and the Fatah."

In Abu Shammalah's view, Abbas was brilliant in convincing the militant groups to observe a ceasefire with Israel earlier this year when he was just elected.

The new Palestinian leader managed to bring major Palestinian factions together in Cairo in March and persuaded them to accept a one-year truce with Israel.

During the past year, there has been a relatively calm period but rocket fire and Israel's military operations did not stop completely, said Aatef Abu Seif, a Palestinian writer and thinker. "I believe that both the militants and the Israeli army had put a pressure on Abbas, and made him unable to either convince militant groups to stop attacks on Israel or to urge Israel to stop its attacks on the Palestinians," said Abu Seif.

The mutual violence also contributes to the ongoing chaos and deterioration of security situation in the Gaza Strip, which also challenges Abbas, Abu Seif added.

Rumors are awash recently that the pressures facing Abbas might make him think about resigning from his president post.However, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath immediately denied the rumors.

As the year is coming to the end, which indicates that the one-year truce is also about to end, Abbas still needs to cope with the inside and outside pressures to ensure the coming 2006 to be a year of peace, freedom and independence, said the Gaza analyst Abu Shabab.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2005)