Palestinians threaten return to violence

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Fatah, a major branch of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, may return to violent protests, a senior operative of the Middle East group said Saturday.

After Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not run again, many within Fatah are calling for popular warfare if progress is not made in the peace process, a Fatah source told the Israeli news site Ynetnews.com.

"We are not talking about terror attacks and weapons, but we are talking about protests and (throwing) stones, like the anti-fence protests, and about strikes and protests by the people, so that the world understands that the next step will be unpleasant and we go back to the way things were before Oslo," the source said.

The Oslo accords of 1993 set the framework for all future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Fatah is not planning another intifada (uprising) like 2001's, the operative stressed, but "there are people who understand that clinging to the peace process damaged Fatah," he said. "It presented us at best as people clinging to a failing process, with Israel giving us the finger time and time again, and at worst as collaborators with Israel."