Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said he believed a future Palestinian state within the 1967 borderline should be with no armed forces.
According to the Hebrew TV channel “Kan” Abbas told a group of visiting Israeli academics in Ramallah that he preferred devoting funds for his future state to education and institutions than to an army.
“I support a state along the 1967 borders without an army. I want unarmed police forces with batons not guns” Abbas said. “Instead of warplanes and tanks I prefer to build schools and hospitals and allocate funds and resources to social institutions.”
An associate of Abbas confirmed to Kan that Abbas had made the comments and said that his words were in line with his previously stated positions.
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni also affirmed that Abbas had voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state in previous peace negotiations she held with him between 2013-2014.
