Violence if "hand of peace" rejected: Abbas

Riyadh, Mar 29: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today warned of violence if Israel rejected a Palestinian ''hand of peace'', and called for an international conference on achieving peace.

''I reiterate the sincerity of the Palestinian will in extending the hand of peace to the Israeli people ... we should not waste more chances in the history of this long and painful cause,'' he told the closing ceremony of an Arab summit.

''The entire region will be under renewed threats of war, explosions, as well as regional and international confrontations, as a result of the absence of a solution or the impossibility of implementing one,'' Abbas added.

''We hope our summit would result in the formation of an Arab committee headed by the Saudi Arabian monarchy, the head of the summit, to follow up implementation of the Arab initiative,'' he said, referring to an Arab land-for-peace proposal.

He called for a ''negotiated settlement that will be sponsored by the international community and within the framework of an international peace conference in the region''.

REUTERS

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