Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Wednesday of trying to undermine an internationally backed two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Abbas, speaking at a rally marking the fifth anniversary of the death of his predecessor, the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, said the Palestinians were committed to the two-state solution but Israel sought to derail it and was putting "obstacles" in the way of such a peace deal.
Thousands marched Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Arafat's Fatah movement still rules. The rally was held in the Muqata, the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah.
"We cannot go to negotiations without a framework. And we say the framework is UN resolutions, meaning a return to the 1967 borders," Abbas said, referring to Israel's borders on the eve of the Six-Day War.
In his address, Abbas reiterated his call for a complete halt to Israeli settlement building in West Bank settlements in order to resume peace talks, saying that the Palestinians could not return to negotiations with Israel without a full halt to settlement building, "including the natural growth" - a term Israel uses to justify construction due to natural population growth in settlements.
Palestinians say the settlements destroy the possibility of setting up a viable state. "They are putting obstacles in its way. They are trying to remove this concept. What do they want?," he said.
The Palestinian President, whose Fatah party was overthrown in the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup staged by Hamas in 2007, offered an extended hand to Hamas urging reconciliation.
He also addressed repeated calls on him to reconsider his recent decision not to run for re-election in the upcoming elections, scheduled for January. Abbas said that he did not want to discuss the issue further.
"On this occasion, I don't want to talk again about my wish not to run in the upcoming elections," Abbas said.
"As I said in my speech, there will be other decisions ... that I will take in light of coming developments," he said.
He voiced his feeling that Hamas was eagerly anticipating his resignations, and hinted that he would not step down before the January election.
Abbas said his hand was extended for reconciliation with Hamas, urging it to sign an Egyptian proposal to end the division. "Instead of trying to eliminate each other, let us unite to be face the occupation together," he said.
But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas was only maneuvering.
Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Kidwa, who also served as a Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, addressed assertions that Israel had a hand in Arafat's death, saying "Each expert we consulted explained that even a simple poison produced by an average scientist would be difficult to identify by the most experienced scientists. I can't tell for sure that he was murdered by the Israelis. I can't refute that hypothesis because doctors couldn't refute it."
Israel has repeatedly denied involvement in Arafat's death.
Al-Kidwa also spoke about the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, saying that the Palestinians must file a request with the UN to officially recognize the Palestinian state.
Israeli Arab Hadash chairman Mohammed Barakeh also spoke at the rally.
The Fatah movement has accused the Hamas government in Gaza of banning the commemoration of Arafat's death in the Strip. Hamas denies the claim, saying that Fatah members in Gaza did not apply for the necessary permits to stage a rally.
Arafat was born on August 29, 1929. He became ill in 2004, while besieged by Israeli forces in his Ramallah headquarters, and was flown to France for treatment. He died in at Percy military hospital outside of Paris on November 11, 2004.
