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Palestinians ‘prefer terror and Hamas over talks’

December 18, 2015 07:36
Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: AP)

By

Anshel Pfeffer,

Anshel Pfeffer

1 min read

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for what he described as "justified popular unrest" among young Palestinians in a speech this week.

It appeared that Mr Abbas was reflecting public opinion. A survey published this week by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research suggested that 67 per cent of Palestinians supported the ongoing wave of terror.

Stabbing and ramming attacks occurred almost daily this week, both inside Israel's pre-1967 borders and in the West Bank.

Mr Abbas said in his speech in Ramallah that the terrorism stemmed from "the despair of young Palestinians over the lack of a political horizon for the two-state solution, the invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the continuation of settlement building and military checkpoint deployment."