TUNIS, Tunisia - the Palestinian, the President said Wednesday he is opposed to another uprising armed against Israel, even if faltering peace efforts fail later this year.
Mahmoud Abbas told journalists in Tunisia that it maintains its commitment to the target to the U.S. to reach a peace agreement negotiated with Israel in September. But with the talks blocked for months, he reiterated his plan to unilaterally seek United Nations Palestinian independence endorsement in the absence of an agreement.
Abbas said that he would turn to the General Assembly of the United Nations, where he said, he expects some 140 countries to vote in favour of an independent Palestine.
Given that the decisions of the Assembly are not legally binding, the vote would be largely symbolic, and we know what will be the Palestinians after this.
Abbas said whatever happens, he did not have an option of violence. "I did not accept a third military uprising," he said, noting that the last armed uprising against Israel, over the last ten years, "was disastrous for us."
Some 6,000 Palestinians, with more than 1,000 Israelis, were killed during the years of fighting that erupted in September 2000. The fighting also heavily damaged the Palestinian economy.
Abbas said that he still supported "popular resistance" - or events - against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Said Israel these events are often violent, and the militants are sporadically, killed or injured, in clashes with Israeli forces.
"We have popular resistance," he said. "But to say that you want to hold a weapon to fire or pistol fight, so please excuse me, I will not allow that as long as I am President".
Israel and the Palestinians has relaunched the peace negotiations in September last in the White House, where President Barack Obama is committed to forging a peace agreement in the year.
The talks have failed just three weeks later after the expiration of an Israeli moratorium on the construction of the colony. The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating if Israel continues to build homes for Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem captured in the Palestinian territories claim for their future State.
Abbas has said he will return to the negotiating table if Israel stops the construction of the colony and is committed to an almost total withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the peace talks should start without any preconditions.
September is shaping up to be a month key to peace efforts. The Palestinians say that in the absence of a peace agreement, they will take their case to the Organization of the United Nations.
They can expect a strong support to the General Assembly, but it seems unlikely that they can gain recognition of the more powerful Security Council.
The United States, who exercises the power of veto, the Council has been cool to the idea of a unilateral declaration of independence, saying: Israel and the Palestinians must resolve their dispute through negotiation. Still, international widespread support for Palestinian independence
The Palestinians won an important recognition last week when the donor States, which send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid each year said institutions developed by the Palestinian Authority are now "above the threshold of a functional State."
International support for the Palestinians has put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his own diplomatic plan to end the impasse.
Netanyahu should be a major policy speech to the Congress of the United States next month. But officials close to the Prime Minister said he did not yet decided what he plans to say.
Copyright ? 2011 the Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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