Abbas claims he stopped Palestinian violence, and he can revive it again
By Israel Insider staff and partners May 30, 2005
Despite the fact that terrorists have fired more than 60 mortars and 10 homemade Qassam rockets at Jewish settlements and IDF personnel in Gaza over the last two weeks, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas tells ABC's "This Week" that his administration has succeeded to "stop the [Palestinian] culture of violence." What's more, he says if negotiations don't go his way, the "armed resistance" will return.In an interview with ABC's "This Week" Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the era of suicide bombing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be over and the culture of violence is changing in the region.
Abbas, who was in Washington last week to meet US President George Bush, said Palestinian-Israeli violence was down 90 percent in the past four months and he was optimistic for the future.
Asked whether the era of suicide bombing was over, he said: "I believe it is over."
"We have started to deal with the culture of violence, we stopped the culture of violence and the Palestinian people have started looking at it as something that should be condemned and it should stop."
Abbas added that such a deadly tactic did not have the support from either the Palestinian Authority or the Palestinian people.
Asked about peace talks between the Palestinians and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Abbas said he hoped meetings set to begin next month would be fruitful.
But he warned that if progress toward a peace agreement was not achieved in meetings with Sharon next month, "despair and loss of hope will come back and a return to the old ideas" of armed resistance.
In the meantime, the PA has demanded that Israel announce the cessation of all activities against wanted Palestinians and warned the issue may end the relative calm.
The PA published a list of 450 wanted Palestinians it has disclosed to Israeli security authorities.
The list is divided into those wanted Palestinians Israel has announced it would not hunt down and those it would continue to pursue.
At the top of the list of wanted Palestinians Israel said it would continue to pursue are senior Hamas member Muhammad Def and Popular Resistance Committees member Jamal Abu-Samahanda.
Popular Resistance Committees Spokesman Abu Abir said the Palestinians have no faith in the Israelis. "It is clear to us the main concern should be focused on those that appear on the list of wanted Palestinians Israel has agreed to pardon," he said.
"Any assassination (by Israel) would bring about a new, more extreme intifada. Palestinian blood is worth just as much as Israeli blood, and an assassination or an attempt to harm any activist (wanted Palestinian) would reopen the gates of war."