During a Christmas ceremony in an Armenian Church in Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian people will fight for independence without violence. "We want peace and stability with our Israeli neighbors. When a Palestinian state is established there will be peace not only between Palestine and Israel, but between Israel and all the Arab and Islamic countries," Abbas said.

This speech comes on the heels of alleged reports that Abbas believes that if Netanyahu is elected prime minister a two-state solution would become less likely. MK Daniel Ben-Simon of Labor told the AP that he met with Abbas, who warned that time is running out for a two-state solution.

"Abbas said the two state solution benefits both nations but he warned that if there is no two state solution within the next two or three years then it won't be practical anymore," Ben-Simon said. "Abbas told me explicitly ... the idea of a one state solution is escalating among Palestinians."

Abbas, who refused to come to the negotiating table for four years and keeps adding preconditions to do so, and who also went to the UN for recognition bypassing negotiations and peace,  has continued to make such statements throughout the Israeli elections and many see these statements as an effort on his part to meddle in the Israeli elections and affect their outcome.