Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Wednesday said that the latest statements of the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas about his plan to establish a demilitarized Palestinian state are personal remarks that do not represent the Palestinian people.
“These statements mirror Fatah’s culture which is based on normalization and coexistence with the occupation” Abu Zuhri wrote on Twitter.
According to Hebrew media sources Abbas told a group of Israeli academics visiting Ramallah on Tuesday 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.”
