The armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and must end, interim Palestinian leader Mr Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published today.
Mr Abbas also said he was in talks with the militant Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to bring them into the framework of the PLO, an umbrella group for Palestinian parties.
Palestinian militants have enjoyed broad support among Palestinians during more than four years of conflict with Israel. Mr Abbas's affirmation of a somewhat unpopular view comes at the height of his campaign for Palestinian Authority president.
He is the frontrunner in the January 9th election to succeed Mr Arafat as Palestinian Authority president. He is regarded as a pragmatist and has the support of Israel and the international community.
While Mr Arafat was alive, Mr Abbas told associates in closed-door meetings that he felt the uprising was a mistake, but rarely spoke out in public. When he criticided the armed uprising during the launch of the US-backed "road map" peace plan in 2003, he drew sharp condemnation at home.
In an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsatpublished today, Mr 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," Mr Abbas said.
"Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop," he continued, referring to shootings and bombings by Palestinian militants that have killed hundreds of Israelis since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000.
He said he was in talks with the militant Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to bring them into the framework of the PLO, an umbrella group for Palestinian parties.
However, his efforts to persuade the militants to halt attacks on Israelis in the run-up to the vote suffered a setback when Hamas and a Fatah offshoot dug a tunnel under an Israeli post on the Gaza-Egypt border, blowing it up and killing five Israeli soldiers.
Israel has insisted violence must end before peace talks can resume.
Israeli Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz also said that if the Palestinians reorganise their security services Israel would be willing to give them control over large areas of Gaza and parts of the West Bank before the pullout.
However, Mr Abbas said: "Frankly, the Palestinian [security] apparatus needs discipline. There is security chaos, that's why were demanding and are seeking to unify the security apparatus."
AP