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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Abbas wanted Hamas toppled in Gaza war: Israel |
| 2010-03-30 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] sraeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to topple Hamas in the Gaza war last year, then turned around and blamed Israel for war crimes. Lieberman said that raised questions over Abbas's fitness as a leader with whom Israel could make peace. "Over the past year, I witnessed (Abbas) at his best. In Operation Cast Lead, (he) called us personally, applied pressure and demanded that we topple Hamas and remove it from power," he told Israel's Maariv daily. "A month after the operation ended, he filed a complaint against us with the International Court of Justice at The Hague for war crimes. Is that a partner?" An aide to Abbas vehemently denied the allegation, accusing the right-leaning Israeli government of trying to deepen the deadlock over U.S.-sponsored efforts to revive negotiations. "This is not true. It is a continuation of the (Israeli) campaign of defamation ... to create an atmosphere that would destroy any chance of salvaging the peace process," Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said. Israel launched its three-week Gaza offensive on Dec. 27, 2008 with the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Such attacks have tapered off since, though there has been sporadic cross-border violence. The war's Palestinian toll -- 1,400 dead, mostly non-combatants, while Israel lost 10 troops and three civilians -- drew fierce censure abroad and stalled negotiations between Abbas and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a centrist. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I'd guess the Jooooz have the tapes, Mo. Might wanna let it go |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-03-30 18:49 |