Palestinian leader Mahmoud ‘Abbas called Tuesday for an end to the armed struggle against Israel and said the use of weapons during the past four years was a mistake.
“The use of arms has been damaging and should end,” ‘Abbas said in an interview with the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
The Palestinian leader called for “keep(ing) the uprising away from arms because the uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means… Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop.”
Upwards of 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians have been killed in more than four years of violent conflict.
‘Abbas, who has long opposed the use of weapons in confronting Israel, also called for renewed negotiations.
“At this stage we are against militarizing the uprising because we want to negotiate,” he told journalists in Saudi Arabia.
Hamas, which together with ‘Abbas’ own Fatah faction carried out a Sunday attack in the Gaza Strip that killed five Israeli soldiers, rejected the Palestinian leader’s call for non-violence.
“I believe the consensus of the Palestinian people contradicts these statements,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. “The strategies of the Palestinian people should be discussed through a serious and comprehensive dialogue.”
Damascus-based Hamas political chief Khalid Mash’al said that the organization is not ready for a cease-fire with Israel.
Hamas also claimed responsibility for a Tuesday mortar attack on an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip that took the life of a female agricultural worker from Thailand.
The United States welcomed ‘Abbas’ statements. Israel, however, refrained from commenting on them out of fear that any perceived support for the Palestinian leader would weaken his popular support in the lead-up to the January 9 election for Palestinian Authority chairmanship.
‘Abbas is expected to win the vote.