CAIRO, Nov 28 (AFP) - Palestinian security forces should be the only group in the occupied territories allowed to carry weapons, Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday.
"We want to control the Palestinian security scene so that we end the phenomenon of arms being carried around everywhere. This is the policy of the Palestinian government," he said.
Abbas, a former prime minister, was responding to a question over the Palestinian Authority's intention to collect arms belonging to the various Palestinian factions.
"We want a single authority, a single government and a single legitimate Palestinian armed force on the Palestinian scene," Abbas told a news conference at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei said the measure was not aimed at quelling the anti-Israeli resistance.
"The resistance will continue as long as the occupation exists, but the work of the resistance is determined by the Palestinian leadership and according to the conditions of each stage," Qorei said at the same news conference.
11/28/2004 16:17 GMT - AFP