Abbas condemns suicide bombing, Western aid threat

Cape Town, Mar 31: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today condemned the latest Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel, but urged Western governments not to cease aid to the new Hamas-led government, which defended the attack.

Abbas said during a visit to South Africa that the suicide strike which killed four Israelis near a West Bank settlement would not help bring peace.

''The Palestinian Authority does not accept it. We condemn it and we don't think it will help the peace process. We want to live in peace and stability and security, side by side with the Israelis,'' Abbas told a news conference in Cape Town.

The suicide bombing by the al-Aqsa Martyers Brigades, part of Abbas' own Fatah faction, was the first such attack in two months and the first by militants within Fatah since the faction was trounced by Hamas in elections in January.

Hamas described the attack as legitimate resistance against Israeli ''crimes''.

Abbas said he and the Palestine Liberation Organisation remained committed to negotiating for peace, and criticised warnings from international mediators that the Hamas-led government's more hardline position could affect aid flows.

''The Palestinian people should not be punished because they have chosen democracy. Therefore there is no logic for some Western countries to cut off and stop funding the Palestininan people. The funds and the aid should continue,'' he said.

The ''Quartet'' of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- issued a statement in Brussels yesterday noting ''grave concern'' over Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

It said Hamas's position would ''inevitably'' affect direct assistance to the Palestinian government and its ministries.

REUTERS

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