At a rally meant as a show of the strength of his Fatah movement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on rival forces to halt their armed clashes and replace bloodshed with respect.
Without mentioning the militant Islamic Hamas by name, Abbas said the response to his election call last month was violent and said those opposed to new polls should challenge the decision in the courts, not in the streets. Hamas controls the Palestinian government after defeating Fatah in an election a year ago. Abbas was elected separately two years ago.
Thousands of Fatah supporters waved the movement's yellow flags and chanted slogans against the Islamic Hamas group and its Iranian backers. Several Fatah activists briefly carried Abbas on their shoulders.
PHOTO: AP
"Go, go, until liberation," they chanted.
Others fired in the air.
"The priority for me is preserving national unity and preventing and prohibiting internal fighting," Abbas told the crowd. "Palestinian blood is a red line."
The rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah was organized to display Fatah power against Hamas -- which is stronger in the Gaza Strip -- but Abbas aides said the moderate Palestinian leader would also give coalition talks with Hamas another chance.
Negotiations on bringing Fatah into the Hamas-led Cabinet are to resume soon and continue for two weeks, said Rafiq Husseini, a senior Abbas aide. If the talks fail, he said, Abbas would proceed with his plan to call early elections.
In his speech, Abbas did not make clear whether he was still determined to go ahead with early elections to resolve the problem of the divided Palestinian government, and made no reference to a resumption of coalition talks.
In condemning factional fighting, Abbas said: "We had pointed our guns against the [Israeli] occupation, and that is a legitimate right, but when the guns are turned against each other, that is forbidden."
In the past, Abbas had criticized violence against Israel, and it was not clear why he seemed to be endorsing it now, at least retroactively.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev refused to respond directly to Abbas' comment.
Regev said Israel sees Abbas as a negotiating partner who "shares our belief in a a two-state solution and reconciliation."
The international community has demanded that Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past agreements with Israel. Hamas has refused.
Abbas said that the Palestine Liberation Organization, which he heads, was responsible for negotiations with Israel. Outlining his position in possible talks with Israel, he said he would not accept the formation of a Palestinian state in provisional borders, as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni proposed last month in a private initiative.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Thursday that the idea is a "non-starter."
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