The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday that one P.L.O. official said that Mr. Abbas, who was instrumental in the Oslo peace accords that laid the foundation for a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, planned “to give a speech later in the day to explain his decision not to run.” The newspaper also noted, as other news agencies did, that “Abbas has threatened in the past not to run, and it was not immediately clear whether this was a final decision.” James Hider of The Times of London reported from Jerusalem that aides said Mr. Abbas’s decision "was prompted in part by remarks made last weekend by Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, who seemed to cave in to Israel’s refusal to halt the growth of Jewish settlements on the West Bank." Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, told Mr. Hilder: “President Abbas has said more than once that he does not want to be a candidate because of his feelings of great frustration about the American position on the peace process…. Full Article at The New York Times