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Abbas suspends peace talks
02/03/2008 18:17 - (SA)
Gaza - Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas suspended peace negotiations with Israel on Sunday,
demanding it end a Gaza offensive that has killed more than 100
Palestinians, many of them civilians.
Israel said it was acting in self-defence in the
Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to curb constant cross-border rocket
attacks by militants and threatened to intensify its ground and
air campaign despite allegations it was using excessive force.
Abbas had ordered "the suspension of negotiations ... until
(Israeli) aggression is stopped", a senior aide to the
Palestinian leader said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
But he stopped short of declaring dead the US-brokered
statehood talks opposed by Hamas Islamists who seized control of
the Gaza Strip from his Fatah movement in June.
Arye Mekel, spokesperson for Israel's chief negotiator, Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni, said Abbas's decision was a mistake and
expressed hope the talks would resume "in the very near future".
"Israel has no intention of stopping the fight against the
terrorist organisations even for a minute," Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert told his Cabinet. 'Excessive force'
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Israel
of using "excessive force".
Meeting in emergency session, the UN Security Council said
it was deeply concerned about civilian deaths in southern Israel
and the Gaza Strip and urged a cessation of violence.
"We are capable of sustaining the fight and tolerating
(attacks) beyond the expectations of the enemy," said Abu
Ubaida, spokesperson of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.
Olmert has been under pressure from some of his cabinet
members to launch a broader offensive in the Gaza Strip,
especially after militants began firing longer-range Katyusha
rockets at Ashkelon, a city of 120 000 people.
- Reuters
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