Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged his Fatah movement to adopt new forms and types of resistance to gain international support for the Palestinian cause.

Abbas made the remarks in a lengthy speech delivered at the opening session of Fatah's sixth general conference which is being held in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the first in 20 years.

"We preserve our firm rights in legitimate resistance that the international law allows," Abbas said, adding "we should introduce new forms of resistance to attract universal public opinion."

He also emphasized adoption of peaceful methods to build a Palestinian statehood.

Abbas said the statehood "has become a matter of time and enjoys international consensus while Israel is isolated alone against that goal."

A draft document obtained by Xinhua of Fatah's political program that would be ratified in the three-day conference calls for cultural and public resistance, such as civil demonstrations against Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, the draft did not rule out the option of "armed struggle" when peace talks with Israel fail.

In his speech, Abbas renewed his rejection to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's economic peace plan, saying his bid is aimed at "diverting the world's attention from the (Palestinian) political rights."


Palestinian National Authority Chairman and Leader of the Fatah movement Mahmoud Abbas (2nd L, front), arrives at the opening ceremony of the sixth general conference of Fatah, which kicks off in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Aug. 4, 2009. (Xinhua/Hua Chunyu)
"We are not seeking for getting bread only, we want to have our freedom firstly and lastly," Abbas told the conferees, noting that the peace process with Israel must lead to "independence, creating the statehood with Jerusalem as a capital."

He stressed that there will be no peace deal with Israel unless it stops the settlement activities on Palestinian land, especially in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"What is being built on our land since 1967 is illegal," he said.

On July 12, Netanyahu called on Abbas "to meet to reach a political and economic peace," which was slammed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as "part of public relations rather than an effort to make peace."

The PNA said the talks can not be resumed unless Netanyahu, who took office in early April, clearly shows his commitment to the U.S.-backed Road Map peace plan which envisions the two-state solutions.

Responding to critics from his own movement, Abbas said the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will continue searching for reasons behind the death of late Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat.


A delegate with a Fatah hat enters the assembly place of the sixth congress of the Palestinian Fatah movement in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Aug. 4, 2009. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
"We will continue the contacts with Arab and foreign countries to find the fact over his death," Abbas said.

Arafat died in 2004 in a French hospital weeks after Israel allowed him to leave his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah for treatment after two years of siege.

Moreover, Abbas said in his lengthy speech that "Fatah demonstrates its rejection to be a hostage in the hands of the coup-makers in the Gaza Strip."

About 2,267 Fatah members were initially expected to attend the conference, but more than 400 Gaza-based invitees are absent since the Islamic Hamas movement, Fatah's bitter rival which controls the Gaza Strip, barred the conferees from traveling to the West Bank.

Nearly 80 Arab and international delegations and parties are attending the opening session of the three-day conference which is being held in a hall of a school near the Church of Nativity.


Delegates enter the assembly place of the sixth congress of the Palestinian Fatah movement in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Aug. 4, 2009. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
Fatah members are expected to elect a new central committee and a revolutionary council to replace the current bodies that were elected in August 1989.

Security measures have been tightened as hundreds of policemen have been deployed on the streets leading to the school.

Source: Xinhua