President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel today of trying to avoid peace talks and push Palestinians into civil war by insisting that militants be disarmed ahead of any negotiations on statehood.
Mr Abbas said in a televised address that Israel was acting as though it had "no peace partner", shortly after a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meant to encourage peacemaking following Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claims that Israel is trying to avoid peace talks
It was not the first time that Mr Abbas had said that disarming militants could risk civil war, but it was some of his strongest criticism of Israel since the Gaza pullout in September.
He accused Israel of "a determination that Palestinians pass through a civil war" because of its insistence that negotiations cannot start before the disarming of militant groups waging an uprising since talks failed in 2000.
His speech marked the anniversary of a Palestinian declaration of independence from exile in 1988.
Palestinians are meant to start disarming militants under a US-backed peace "road map". Israel also says it is committed to that plan, although it has failed to meet its own pledge to freeze settlement building in the West Bank.
Powerful militant factions, such as Islamic group Hamas, say they will not give up their weapons and have occasionally clashed with security forces. Some also have strong popular support because of their fight against Israel. Most groups agreed with Mr Abbas to abide by a truce with Israel, though violence has flared sporadically.
Israeli officials reiterated that there could be no statehood talks before militants are disarmed.
"These conditions are clear and these are their obligations from the first stage of the road map," Zeev Boim, Israel's deputy defence minister, told Israel Radio.
During her visit, Ms Rice renewed US pressure on Mr Abbas to act against the armed groups. She also pushed Israel on the question of settlement building.