Abbas says Israel Netanyahu 'doesn't believe in peace'

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said that incoming Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “does not believe in peace”, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“I knew Netanyahu for a long time, since the 1990s … He is a man who doesn’t believe in peace,” Abbas said in an interview with Egypt’s Al-Qahera news channel.

Abbas, however, said he has “no other choice but to deal with him”.

Netanyahu, a former Prime Minister, was tasked on Sunday with forming the next Israeli government after his right-wing bloc won 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset (Israel’s parliament).

READ: Outgoing Israel PM: Mandating Netanyahu to form a gov’t a ‘black day’ for democracy

Abbas said it is not possible to use the armed struggle against the decades-long Israeli Occupation.“We need now to use political tools,” he added.

On the reconciliation file with his rival Hamas group, Abbas, the leader of the Fatah Movement, said the “doors are open” to achieve last month’s reconciliation deal mediated by Algeria.

“Hamas is required to recognise the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as a representative of the Palestinian people and to recognise international legitimacy,” he added. Yet, Abbas said there are “important bodies” that don’t want reconciliation to be achieved, but without naming them.

In 1993, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo Accords, which gave Palestinians a form of civil rule, but negotiations failed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian State.

US-sponsored peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis collapsed in April 2014, as Tel Aviv refused to stop settlement building and release Palestinian detainees imprisoned before 1993.

READ: Settler mistaken for Palestinian and killed by Israeli forces