In his speech on "Nakba Day" on May 15, 2006, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) called to stop the firing of missiles into Israel. Other senior Palestinian officials made similar statements, and condemned suicide attacks because they harm the Palestinian cause.

The following are excerpts:

Abu Mazen: The Tel Aviv Bus Station Attack was "One of the Base Attacks That Harm the Palestinian People"

In his May 15, 2006 speech commemorating the nakba, Abu Mazen said: "The futile firing of missiles needs to be stopped, [as they] mostly just give Israel a pretext to escalate its aggression against our citizens in the Gaza Strip." [1]

The bombing of the old central bus station in Tel Aviv evoked a particularly harsh condemnation on the part of Abu Mazen: "We released an official PA announcement in which we condemned [the attack] in the strongest possible terms, and we considered it to be one of the base attacks that harms the Palestinian people… The PA, the government, and the security services need to prevent such attacks." [2]

"Traditional Warfare Against Israel is a Severe Policy Error, If Not Total Political Folly"

Hani Al-Masri, director of the Palestinian Information Ministry and a columnist for the PA daily Al-Ayyam, wrote: "Stop launching missiles on Israel from Gaza. I say this even though such a statement might expose me to accusations that I am calling on the Palestinians to surrender - which is not the case. On the contrary, this call to stop the firing of missiles and mortars is likely to strengthen the Palestinians' capacity to show that they stand firm on their homeland. It will bolster their ability to conduct resistance capable of putting an end to the occupation, and not [merely] resistance for the sake of resistance or for the sake of settling internal scores.

"In the past, I and a few others like me called to stop [the firing of] the missiles, when Hamas was not in power but was the one who fired the missiles. I [still] demand this today, when Hamas is in power and is leading the government. I am demanding this not in order to harass [anyone], but for the sake of the supreme national interest.

"...Stopping the missile fire will deprive Israel of its ability to use pretexts, and will reveal its [real] intentions and goals... It is true that there is a certain value to firing missiles at Israel, as this harms the Israeli deterrence theory and undermines security in Israel. However, conducting an arms race and traditional warfare against Israel is a severe policy error, if not total political folly.

"The outcome of the war of mortars and missiles was bitter, contrary to all the counter-arguments. It is impossible to sum up the 'liberation' of Gaza as [a case of] the occupation fleeing from mortars and missiles...

"Taking into account the current balance of power, it would be a grave error to conduct a military conflict, because Israel has overwhelming military superiority - it benefits from American backing, and the international community is more apathetic than ever. The military resistance should be secondary and of limited scope - for the [sole] purpose of self-defense. "

The Resistance Does Not Take Into Account the Disastrous Consequences of the Attacks

"Resistance is a natural right and a national necessity for defeating the occupation, but the military resistance in general, and the missile fire and martyrdom-seeking operations inside Israel in particular, exceed the possibilities [allowed by] the circumstances and by the options available to the Palestinian people, [since the Palestinians] cannot compete with Israel in military warfare.

"[The resistance] does not take into account the disastrous consequences, past and present, [of the missile fire and martyrdom-seeking operations]. The Israeli casualties from mortar and missile fire were minor, and today they are miniscule, apart from harm to morale. The Palestinians, on the other hand, suffer losses and injuries every day.

"World opinion has gained the impression that this is a conflict between two armies - not between the occupation, which has all the capabilities necessary for military warfare, and an unarmed people, that has no means of resistance except its strong will and determination.

"The Palestinian government must support the right of resistance...; must oppose the [international] blackmailing, which aims to force the Palestinians to make political compromises; and must criticize the silence of the international community. It has an obligation to define its position on the subject of the futile bombardments...

"Hamas stopped the martyrdom-seeking operations following the comprehensive Palestinian agreement on the tahdiah [state of calm], and it still honors [the agreement]... It stopped [these operations] more than a year ago, and stopped firing missiles and mortars several months ago, on the eve of the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

"If resistance [conducted] by firing mortars and missiles and [carrying out] martyrdom-seeking operations were effective at this point, and could achieve its goals, there would be no need to refrain from using it. The government must supply all means that are crucially needed in order to stand firm, so as to allow the resistance to get underway without restrictions. "

The Resistance Needs a Common Strategy Regarding Forms of Struggle and Negotiation

"The resistance must formulate a common strategy that will clarify what forms of struggle and what forms of political activity and negotiation are appropriate, effective, and able to achieve the national goals. Therefore, we need to stop treating negotiations and resistance as though they were a private affair about which each faction, group, or person [may] decide as he wishes... Hamas is now being burnt by the fire that it ignited... We need to initiate a serious national dialogue in order to come up with a unified plan of action that will yield a common national program defining the aims and nature of the struggle..." [3]

Former PLO Ambassador Yahya Rabah: The Continuation of the Current Situation May Lead to the Reoccupation of Gaza

Former PLO ambassador in Yemen and current columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Yahya Rabah wrote: "We held elections, and Hamas won. Instead of reaching national consensus and convincing the world of the advantages of our democracy and its ability to [bring about] dialogue with the other, we turned our backs on ourselves, and once again made futile noises about how the world must accept the results of democracy in Palestine...

"[But] every time one of the [factions] carries out a bombing operation or fires a missile, without any coordination whatsoever with other [factions] and without reading the map [i.e. evaluating the situation], we continue to ]blame Israel]...

"Today this situation is deteriorating, and we are isolated. One day we will wake up to find that Israeli Army forces have returned to the Gaza Strip..." [4]