As Israel warned of an escalation of its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the leader of the militant Palestinian group vowed Saturday that Israel had squandered any chance of settlement and negotiation.Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal gave a fiery speech on the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera condemning Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip, describing it as a "holocaust."
| Easy for Khaled to call for people to rise up, he's safe in Damascus ... |
Meanwhile, Israel pounded rocket sites and tunnels Saturday while its planes dropped leaflets warning of an escalation, and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas predicted a "waterfall of blood" unless all parties adhere to the U.N.'s call for a durable cease-fire.
Hamas fighters kept up attacks on southern Israel, launching 15 rockets. And with neither side ready to step down, the death toll in two weeks of fighting rose to more than 800 Palestinians, according to Palestinian medical officials, and 13 Israelis. Flames and smoke rose over Gaza City amid heavy fighting.
Mashaal's comments come as a Hamas delegation is in Egypt, together with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss an Egyptian cease-fire proposal and possible international monitoring force to enforce an agreement.
Mashaal said that any international monitoring force would be treated as "occupation" force and Hamas said that before any negotiations could take place, Israel had to halt attacks, pull out of the Gaza Strip and lift the siege of Gaza. He did say, however, that the group would deal with any peace proposals with an "
So what are you willing to give up before negotiations can take place? The male prostitutes at the Damascus Hilton?
Diplomacy was not finished, but it appeared to be in retreat following both sides' defiance of Thursday's U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to fighting. Struggling to keep peace efforts alive, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited representatives of Gaza's Hamas rulers to Egypt for further talks on his cease-fire initiative.