A co-founder of the Hamas movement and former minister said Wednesday he would run in January's Palestinian presidential election. Sheikh Talal Sidr, 51, said he would sign up for the poll on November 20 -- the start of a 12-day period when contenders are invited to submit their candidacy. Sidr told AFP that he would campaign on a programme of "continuing the polices of Yasser Arafat, God bless his soul. I believe in the rightness of our cause and I believe in a peaceful solution."
| "And that's where the money is." |
Sidr left Hamas in 1997, 10 years after co-founding the Islamist movement, to serve first as Palestinian sports and youth minister, and then as minister without portfolio until spring 2003. He went on to act as Arafat's adviser for religious affairs, a position he held until the Palestinian leader died last Thursday. A father of 10, Sidr hails from the southern West Bank town of Hebron and heads a private construction firm. |