GAZA CITY, 16 May 2006 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called on Israel to resume negotiations and warned against Tel Aviv taking unilateral action. In a speech marking Nakba, the Day of Catastrophe for Palestinians when Israel was founded 58 years ago, the president also urged Hamas to renounce violence and honor existing peace agreements.
Palestinians should not be satisfied with “fiery speeches and slogans that could bring about international isolation”, Abbas said, repeating his long-standing call for Hamas “to renounce all forms of violence”.
Issuing an appeal to Israel, where Abbas is widely seen as a weak leader unable to engage in peacemaking while Hamas is in power, he said: “We want to make a just and permanent peace with you.”
“Let’s make this year the year of peace, let’s sit at the negotiations table away from the policy of diktats and unilateralism. Stop making excuses there’s no Palestinian partner, the partner is there,” Abbas, now on a visit to Russia, said in a pre-recorded address.
Hamas, which defeated Abbas’ Fatah movement in January and took office in March, is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has ruled out any negotiations. In a statement after Abbas’ speech, the movement rejected any change in its attitude to Israel.
“Any talk about stopping resistance or illegitimate resistance is rejected as long as the occupation continues and the world continues to ignore Palestinian rights,” it said.
Abbas made his peace offer ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s talks at the White House on May 23 on his plan to remove isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, bolster major enclaves and draw a permanent border.
In his speech, Abbas warned Israel that unilaterally setting “final borders” with a Palestinian state, as Olmert has pledged to do by 2010 if peace talks cannot be resumed, risked provoking a deeper spiral of violence.
Olmert has said those borders will roughly follow the wall Israel is building in the West Bank, encompassing Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land. Crowds gathered in the center of Ramallah, administrative capital of the West Bank, to hear Abbas’ speech over loudspeakers after standing in silence as sirens wailed to mark Nakba.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials yesterday said they have boosted security around Abbas, heavily restricting traffic near his office and placing snipers in buildings near his West Bank residence. The officials said there was no evidence of a concrete threat against Abbas, but the moves were necessary at a time of rising tensions with Hamas and other militant groups. The changes in guarding Abbas have been in place for two weeks, said an official in Abbas’ office.
— Additional input from agencies
