Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas failed Thursday to convince the leading Islamic militant group Hamas to call a halt to attacks on Israel, during a meeting here with its top leadership, participants said. Abbas, under pressure from Israel and the United States to bring an end to the 32-month-long Palestinian uprising, met with senior Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantissi and two other top figures, Ismail Abu Shanab and Ismail Haniya. After the meeting, Haniya said Hamas would only end its suicide attacks in Israel if the Israeli army put an end to its policy of targeted killings of key militants, stopped its incursions into Palestinian territory and released Palestinian prisoners. “When the Zionist enemy stops killing Palestinian civilians, ends its assassinations and its incursions and frees the prisoners, then Hamas could stop its military operations against (Israeli) civilians,” he said. However, he said the battle against the Israeli military and against Jewish settlers would continue. Full Story
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