HEBRON, Nov 17: A co-founder of the Hamas, an academic and a lawyer on Wednesday announced their intention to run in January's Palestinian presidential election. Sheikh Talal Sidr, 51, a former Hamas supremo and junior cabinet minister, said he would campaign on a programme of "continuing the policies of Yasser Arafat, God bless his soul.

"I believe in the rightness of our cause and I believe in a peaceful solution," he added, saying 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 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. He announced his candidacy after Hamas decided to boycott the January 9 polls, which it deems "illegal."

Abdel Sattar Qassem, a 56-year-old academic from the northern West Bank town of Nablus, also threw his hat into the race. "I was always determined to run for the presidency and I think my chances of success have increased in Arafat's absence," Qassem said. He first made his intentions clear in 2002, should the late leader have run for re-election.

"I have contacts with the different factions and I enjoy considerable support. I am sure I would be elected and that I could become president of the Authority," he added. Qassem was jailed for two years by Israel and expelled from university in Amman for "political militancy".

He was also three times imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority (PA), serving a total of eight months, after heavily criticising Arafat when the PA was established in 1994.

In 1995, he was wounded when gunmen, presumed to have been Palestinian intelligence agents, opened fire as he ambled home. Qassem has taught political science at the Al-Najah University in Nablus for the past 24 years.

"The domestic situation is my primary concern. Reforms, fighting corruption and restoring security are my priorities," he said. Meanwhile, a lawyer hitherto unknown on the Palestinian political scene, Ghassan Barham, also announced his intention to run, from the West Bank town of Jenin.

In a statement, he laid out a manifesto based on excluding the United States from the peace process and his commitment to the right of return for Palestinians who lost their homes when the state of Israel was forcibly created in 1948. -AFP