Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Hamas tried to assassinate him a month ago by placing explosives under a bridge he was expected to drive on. Speaking before the PLO Central Council, Abbas gave a speech considered to be one of his most impassioned ever.
"This is not a fight between Fatah and Hamas, said Abbas, "but between legitimate law to militia laws, between a dark project and one based on dialogue and democracy. Our national project, which we wrote with our blood, is in historic danger," said the PA chairman.
"We have always striven to bring the expelled nation back to its homeland and create an independent state," he said. "We always wanted to give the next generations a chance to live in a free and honorable way. We carried out the struggle against the occupation under the national flag – they came to erase all of our national symbols."
"This is not a fight between Fatah and Hamas, said Abbas, "but between legitimate law to militia laws, between a dark project and one based on dialogue and democracy. Our national project, which we wrote with our blood, is in historic danger," said the PA chairman.
"We have always striven to bring the expelled nation back to its homeland and create an independent state," he said. "We always wanted to give the next generations a chance to live in a free and honorable way. We carried out the struggle against the occupation under the national flag – they came to erase all of our national symbols."