Stop violence says Arafat ally

RAMALLAH - The Palestinians' top security official has called for an end to all violence against Israelis and a switch to civil resistance in the nearly two-year-old uprising for statehood.

"All forms of Palestinian violence have to stop," said Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya, who is overseeing security reform that the United States has demanded in the Palestinian Authority.

"All resistance acts that are characterised by violence, such as using arms or even stones ... are harmful," he said yesterday. "I call for civil resistance within the framework of the political struggle."

Suicide attacks were harming the Palestinian cause, said Yahya, repeating a plea he made last week to an Israeli newspaper.

The militant Islamic group Hamas, which has killed scores of people in suicide bombings, has rejected Yahya's call.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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