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Palestinian Militants Vow Attacks to Protest Peace Talks

   VOA News 03 September 2010
   Masked  Palestinian  Hamas  militants  hold a press conference in Gaza
   City, 2 Sept. 2010.

Photo: AP

   Masked  Palestinian  Hamas  militants  hold a press conference in Gaza
   City, 2 Sept. 2010.

   Palestinian  militants  have  rejected  recently restarted peace talks
   with Israel, and have vowed to continue to attack Israelis.
   A  spokesman  for  the  armed  wing of the Islamist group Hamas, which
   controls the Gaza Strip, says 13 militant groups have joined forces to
   launch  more  effective  attacks  against  Israel,  including possible
   suicide bombings.
   The  armed  wing  of Hamas claimed responsibility for two attacks this
   week on Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
   Palestinian  President  Mahmoud  Abbas met with Israeli Prime Minister
   Benjamin  Netanyahu  in Washington Thursday for the first direct peace
   talks between the two sides in nearly two years.
   They  agreed  to produce a framework for a permanent peace deal and to
   hold a second round of direct talks later this month.
   Mr.  Netanyahu  said  Israel is demanding security assurances from the
   Palestinians and a lasting recognition of Israel's right to exist. Mr.
   Abbas  said  Palestinians  called  on  Israel  to  end  all settlement
   activity, and also to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
   Meantime,   Iranian   state  media  quote  Iranian  President  Mahmoud
   Ahmadinejad as saying Friday the peace talks are "doomed" and that the
   fate  of  the  Palestinians  should  be  decided in the region, not in
   Washington, Paris or London.
   Mr.  Ahmadinejad  made  the remarks in a televised speech marking Quds
   Day, when Iranians show solidarity with Palestinians.  His supporters
   cheered the speech with chants of "down with Israel."

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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