Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas has again urged Palestinians to end their armed uprising against Israel.
His published comments in an Arabic newspaper Tuesday came as militants killed one Thai farm laborer and wounded two others in a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza.
Mr. Abbas said the Palestinian uprising is the legitimate right of Palestinians to protest Israeli occupation through popular and social means. But he said the use of weapons in that struggle has been damaging and it should stop.
His comments follow accusations from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinian leaders are not doing enough to rein in militant groups.
On Sunday, Palestinian militants detonated more than a ton of explosives in a tunnel beneath an Israeli army post, killing five soldiers. Israeli forces later demolished several buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Some information for this story provided by Reuters and AFP.
