Quds city, Dec 18, SPA -- The armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and must end, interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Tuesday, signaling his determination to change direction after Yasser Arafat's death. Abbas is the frontrunner in the Jan. 9 election to succeed Arafat as Palestinian Authority president. In an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat published Tuesday, Abbas said Palestinians should resist Israeli occupation without resorting to violence. It is important to "keep the uprising away from arms because the uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means," Abbas said. "Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop," Abbas said. Abbas also said he was in talks with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, to bring them into the framework of the PLO, an umbrella group for Palestinian parties. Meanwhile, Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron demolished on Tuesday two houses and sealed the office of an Islamic charity charged of aiding militants and their families.
