Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that he would not seek a second term as president when his current mandate expires in 2009.

Speaking to the pan-Arab al-Arabiya satellite channel in an interview, Abbas said that he would not run for another term in office after the expiry of his four-year term in order to give others a chance.

Abbas also warned that elements of the al-Qaida terror group might start operating in the Palestinian lands should the pressure on the new Palestinian government led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) continue.

But meanwhile, the Palestinian president stressed the necessity of not linking Hamas to al-Qaida, saying that Hamas had asked al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri "not to interfere in the Palestinian domestic affairs."

Al-Arabiya said that it would air the full interview with Abbas on Tuesday.

Abbas, a veteran Palestinian statesman, was elected Palestinian president in January 2005, succeeding late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.