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Senior Mahmoud Abbas Aide Suggests Violent Uprising in the West Bank

Palestinian supporters of the Islamic Jihad chant slogans against resuming peace talks with Israel

A top security adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that the Palestinians should embark on a violent uprising in the West Bank and resume the path of "armed resistance"

"As things stand, we won't have a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip even 20 years from now. Therefore, we should consider resuming the path of armed resistance. Maybe that will bring about change," said senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi.

Tirawi said that the failure of Secretary of State John Kerry’s outline for peace means that both sides should prepare for increased violence, according to Israel Hayom.

Tirawi, the PA's former intelligence chief, stressed that the Palestinian will not agree to the outline currently promoted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and warned that both the Palestinians and Israel should prepare for the security escalation that is sure to follow.

"All Palestinian factions agree that we must reject Kerry's plan. We cannot accept any of the principles detailed in it … We have to work towards an agreement that would include all of the [Palestinian] factions -- those under the PLO's leadership and those external to it," he said, referring to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Asked whether resuming violence does not counter the principles set by Abbas himself following the Second Intifada, Tirawi noted that the Palestinians "have never forsaken the path of diplomacy, just like we have never forsaken the path of armed resistance, which is an inseparable part of how we work."

Fatah, he noted, "does not dismiss any path that may help us realize the Palestinian vision of having an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."