Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after nearly 50 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed by Israeli fire.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "I think it will be suspended," Qurei said, according to the AP. "What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide," Qurei added. "We can't bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn't led the peace process any credibility."
In Syria, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal denounced Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza Strip, describing them as "the real Holocaust." Mashaal accused Israel of "using the Holocaust" as a pretext for launching attacks on the Gaza Strip.
According to AFP, the Hamas leader also accused Abbas of providing the Jewish state with "a cover, voluntarily or involuntarily", to carry out its assault on Gaza. "Israel is exaggerating the Holocaust... Israel is using the Holocaust as a cover to do what it wants," Meshaal told a news conference.
