Abbas's return to talks "political farce"

The Hamas Movement has asserted that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's decision to suspend talks with the IOA was a "theatrical play" but his return to those talks was a "political farce" revealing his complete abidance to Washington's orders.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said on Sunday evening that returning to negotiations meant that Abbas had turned his back to "the blood of martyrs and victims of the big holocaust in Gaza that claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinian children, women and worshippers".

On the other hand the Israeli premier Ehud Olmert's approval of a new settlement plan in occupied Beit Ul Moqaddas and his threats of more crimes against the Palestinian people immediately after Abbas announced his return to talks meant that he (Olmert) "disdained the Palestinian president and his negotiating team", the Hamas spokesman elaborated.

He said that the tripartite meeting on Thursday grouping the PA delegation with Israeli and American teams was of a "security nature" and complements previous security plans that target quelling Palestinian resistance, which further sheds doubts on Abbas's call for dialogue and his acceptance of the Yemeni initiative.

For her part, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, said during a meeting with the American envoy James Jones that the establishment of a Palestinian state at the present time constitutes a "big danger on Israel's security".

Livni said that those leading the future Palestinian state should believe in peace with Israel and also fight "terrorism" and meet all security needs of the Hebrew state.