Mideast - AFP
Former Palestinian PM says Arafat no obstacle to peace
Date: Fri, Jun 04, 2004
DUBAI (AFP) - Former Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas rejected US and Israeli charges that Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) was "an obstacle" to peace.
"It is unjust to say that president Arafat is an 'obstacle' on the road to peace," Abbas told Friday's Al-Khaleej newspaper.
"I have differences with president Arafat, but he is one of the most pragmatic and most anxious (to have) peace," said the former premier, also known as Abu Mazen, who stood down last year because of his disagreements with the Palestinian leader.
"What he was asked to do was to take some measures including unifying (security) bodies.
"He is not calling for making political, or other, concessions. This is the internal affair of Palestinians," he said, insisting on Arafat's "pragmatism ... without which the (1993) Oslo accords would never have been concluded."
Abbas, the secretary general of Arafat's Fatah (news - web sites) movement, also renewed his opposition to attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants.
"I am against the militarisation of the intifada ... it's my personal point of view and I said this when I was prime minister.
"Those that think these operations will lead to victory are very much deluded. I think that these operations are useless since they bring about more destruction" for Palestinians, he said.
Arafat, who has been confined to his Ramallah headquarters by the Israeli army since December 2001, has been boycotted by the United States as well as Israel as an "obstacle" to the Middle East peace process.
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