Abbas defends peace agenda

PALESTINIAN leader Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday he’d rather resign than let extremists block his peace agenda, but expressed hope that the Islamic militant Hamas, poised to make a strong showing in next week’s Palestinian parliament election, will moderate its views if it shares power.

Abbas acknowledged he is worn out after a year in power, but denied a report in Israeli’s Maariv daily yesterday, based on US and European sources, that he is depressed and losing control.

“I’m not disappointed,” he told a small group of reporters in his office, sitting in an armchair, with gold-framed photos of himself and the late Yasser Arafat as a backdrop.