Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians and Israel are embarking on a “new era” after more than four years of violence, according to a New York Times interview published on Monday.

Abbas told the newspaper, in comments that appeared on its Web site, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who reached a cease-fire deal with the new Palestinian leader at a Feb. 8 summit, is speaking a “different language.

“And now he (Sharon) has a partner,” said Abbas, who was elected on Jan. 9 to replace Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence and reviving a U.S.-backed peace “road map” envisaging the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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