Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Comments to Ad Dustour

By David Schenker

The Jerusalem Post today ran an article today containing a few quotes translated from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ February 27 interview with the Jordanian daily Ad Dustour.

The remarks reported by the Post do not inspire optimism regarding the future of the Annapolis negotiations. [Neither does the full interview in Arabic].

Of the few points mentioned by the Post, the following quote stands out:

"At this present juncture, I am opposed to armed struggle because we cannot succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different," he said.

In the full interview, Abbas speaks with pride about the PLO’s “legendary struggle” Israel, and how the PLO trained Hizballah in their camps. He also mentions how he personally withstood US and Israeli pressures not to allow Hamas to participate in the January 2006 elections. Today, he said, “I won’t reject dialogue with Hamas, and I won’t accept pressure from anyone.”

Secretary of State Rice heads to the Middle East on March 3rd to try and push these negotiations forward.

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