RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas has dropped the phrase "armed resistance" from its platform, a minister said on Friday, in a further break from Hamas Islamists in control of Gaza.
A spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert welcomed the move, which coincided with a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at resuming long-stalled peacemaking.
"In this platform, we are very clear that the armed resistance must come to an end because it has nothing to do with establishing the state," Ashraf al-Ajrami, the Palestinian minister of prisoners affairs, told Reuters.
"Armed resistance and armed struggle are not included in the platform," he said.
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