Palestinian News Item Abbas: PA will not disarm "the Resistance [Hamas]" Sada El-Balad TV (Egypt)‎ - Aug. 23, 2014   Sada El-Balad TV host: “Mr. President, honestly, and tell me clearly in front of everyone ‎‎– did Egypt, at any point, say ‘we’ll disarm or agree to disarm the Resistance [Hamas]’?”‎ PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “It [Egypt] never said that. It was the US Secretary of ‎State who once said that to me … He told me: ‘disarm.’ I told him: ‘Yes, once I have one ‎state, one law, one rifle and one government, then you ask me to disarm. Not now. ‎Give me a state and then I’ll decide.’ Egypt didn’t demand this – Israel did… Since the ‎coup against the PA and to this day, we’ve been transferring more than 50% of our ‎budget to Gaza, including [salaries] to 60-70 thousand civil servants who aren’t ‎working. They are [in Gaza] and are receiving salaries. We pay them, because they’ve ‎been prevented from working. Hamas came [to power after the coup] and appointed ‎other people in their place.”‎