The armed uprising against Israel is a "mistake" and must end, PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Tuesday.
Abbas is the frontrunner in the Jan. 9 election to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority president.
In his 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 noted.
