Fatah official: Uprising hard to prevent

Stalled peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders would make an intifada, or uprising, hard to prevent, a senior Fatah Party official said Thursday. The comment, made on Army Radio, came as officials in Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank, urged calm during Nakba, which commemorates the establishment of the state of Israel, Haaretz reported. Leaders said Wednesday they did not think Nakba events and protests would spiral out of control during the three days of protests declared by Palestinians. Abbas Zaki, a member of the Fatah delegation in reconciliation talks with Hamas, said the Palestinian Authority would not be able to suppress popular unrest in the face of protests sweeping cross the Middle East and the stagnant peace talks. "The Palestinian leadership facing a [diplomatic] impasse could not quiet the Palestinian street [after people] watched the achievements of other [Mideast] peoples," Zaki said. Concerning security arrangements if reconciliation is successful, Zaki said militant groups, such as Hamas, would be relieved of their weapons, Haaretz reported. The only army would be that of the Palestinian government, he said. Zaki also discussed efforts to reach a prisoner exchange deal that would include the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza since his cross-border kidnapping in June 2006. "We are against keeping people in prisons," he told Army Radio. "That is why we shall demand the release of all 5,800 Palestinian prisoners. We will welcome any exchange deal for Shalit since it its not right to make one person pay that price."