Fatah leader: Negotiations are the "fighter's rest," return to violence is an option

Samir Al-Mashharawi, member of Fatah Central Committee:
     “Now [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas is suggesting the idea of negotiation. If we see that Abbas grants us an opportunity – by negotiations – for a national achievement with no casualties and no bloodshed on our side, [then] yes! What harm could it cause us? When all of the diplomatic doors are shut, as happened after the Oslo agreement, we have the Intifada (PA terror campaign, 2000-2005); we have our people; we have our perseverance in the resistance (violence). We view this period of negotiations as the “fighter’s rest.”