Israeli FM questions right of Abbas to represent Palestinians
Palestinian families try to extinguish fire from a field in the West Bank village of Safa, north of Hebron on Monday. Israeli settlers from the nearby Bat Ayin settlement set fire to large areas of fields with apples, olives and almond groves.Photo: AFP
Israel's controversial Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman fanned the flames of a diplomatic feud on Monday when he cast doubt on the right of President Mahmud Abbas to represent the Palestinians.
"The more Abu Mazen's authority and legitimacy decline, the more he increases his demands and the more rigid he becomes in his attitude," Lieberman told Israeli public radio, referring to Abbas by his popular nickname.
"Today you have Fatah-land in Judea and Samaria (the Hebrew name for the occupied West Bank) and Hamastan in Gaza," Lieberman told Israeli radio, referring to Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.
"And who exactly does Abu Mazen represent? Only half the people, at best."
Lieberman went on to mock remarks made by Abbas to an Egyptian newspaper that he should be replaced as foreign minister, calling it a "compliment."
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