JERUSALEM
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that he did not have proof of Israel's involvement in the assassination of his predecessor Yasser Arafat.
Abbas also ruled out the possibility that that the Palestinians would stage a third uprising.
"I cannot accuse anybody of killing president Arafat without evidence," Abbas said. "I do not have evidence that Israel had killed him and this is why I do not accuse it," he added in an interview with Israel's Channel 10.
Some Palestinian factions, including Abbas' Fatah, had accused Israel of fatally poisoning the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat inside his home in Ramallah in 2004.
In his interview with Channel 10, Abbas said tension in Jerusalem boiled down to the current situation in Al-Aqsa Mosque, apparently referring to repeated violations by Israeli settlers against the mosque.
He added that Israel's settlement construction policy was also to blame for this tension, referring to a recently-disclosed plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build 1,000 new settlements in East Jerusalem.
Holy sites
Commenting on accusations by Netanyahu for him that he incited violence in the old city, Abbas said he had only called on Palestinians to protect holy sites in their country.
"I did not call for violence," the Palestinian Authority President said.
Netanyahu accused Abbas earlier that he incited violence and standing behind future confrontations between the Palestinians and Israeli troops.
"I did not call for a third uprising," Abbas said. "I would have done this during Israel's latest 51-day war on the Gaza Strip, had I wanted it," he added.
He said he opposed the 'uprising option', calling on Israel to stop settlement construction in the Palestinian territories.
Abbas said Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations had stopped in July 2013 because of Netanyahu's rejection to suspend the construction of settlements in the Palestinian territories and release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in the light of the Oslo Accords, which were signed in 1995.
Abbas said his government would resort to the United Nations Security Council in order to protect the Palestinian people.
"Where should I go if Israel does not want peace?" Abbas asked.
By Alaa Rimawi
www.aa.com.tr/en
