Abbas sorry over remarks

RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas apologised on Friday over alleged anti-Semitic comments that drew global condemnation. “If people were offended by my statement at the Palestinian National Council, especially people of the Jewish faith, I apologise to them,” he said in a statement, days after appearing to suggest Jewish behaviour, including money lending, led to their persecution in Europe. The English-language statement added he wanted “to reiterate our long held condemnation of the Holocaust, as the most heinous crime in history”. RE-ELECTED: Abbas was re-elected head of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Friday, as the veteran leader seeks to strengthen his control over politics in the occupied West Bank. A four-day meeting of the PLO’s parliament, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) backed Abbas and selected a new leadership of the PLO’s executive committee. The first regular PNC meeting in 22 years was seen as an opportunity for 82-year-old Abbas to try to increase his legitimacy. — AFP