Palestinian President Abbas condemns the Jerusalem attack

Friday March 07, 2008 01:58 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The head of the negotiations department at the Palestine Liberation Organization, Dr. Sa'eb Erekat, stated on Thursday night that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemns the attack on the Israeli settler school in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

The attack took place on Thursday evening and left seven Israelis and the Palestinian attacker dead. Another nine Israelis were injured in the attack, three of them critically.

The Israeli government responded by stating that the negotiations and peace talks would continue between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinian-Israeli peace talks were reinstated last November during the U.S. sponsored Annapolis conference.

On Sunday President Abbas halted talks with Israel in protest of the latest Israeli attacks on the coastal region which began last week and have so far left 135 dead, the majority of them civilians.

Meanwhile the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip after overthrowing Abbas' Fatah party last June, welcomed the Jerusalem attack saying it was a natural response to the ongoing Israeli military assaults in Gaza and the West Bank.

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