Dozens of gunmen gave a warm welcome to interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, hoisting him on their shoulders and pledging loyalty to his campaign for the Palestinian presidency. The gunmen were among tens of thousands of people to greet Abbas in Rafah, a teeming camp in southern Gaza that has seen some of the heaviest fighting during the past four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The camp was decorated with large posters of Abbas, and the crowd was in such a frenzy that Abbas was forced to leave an indoor campaign rally through the window of the building. "Rafah suffers from oppression and occupation, but it will not be defeated and humiliated and will not back down except after victory and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas told the cheering crowd. Abbas, the front-runner in the Jan. 9 presidential election, has been courting armed groups in recent days, even though he has spoken out against violence and called for a negotiated settlement with Israel. The campaigning has prompted questions about whether Abbas is playing campaign politics or identifying with violent groups.