 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has brushed aside an appeal from the Quartet of international peace mediators to dismantle resistance groups, saying he knew best how to handle them.
| "Nope. Nope. Can't do it." |
"With regard to dealing with the Palestinian organisations, this is our affair," Abbas said in the town of Rafah on Gaza's border with Egypt on Wednesday. "We know more and are more capable than others in dealing with our brothers."
| "So you can butt the hell out. And send money, dammit!" |
Ministers of the Quartet - United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union - said in a joint statement on Tuesday that following Israel's pullout from Gaza, Palestinians needed to "dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructures". Israel and Washington have long demanded Abbas disarm resistance fighters in order to help restart peace talks. The moderate Palestinian leader has preferred to co-opt resistance fighters with jobs after having coaxed them into a ceasefire in February. |