Abbas begins talks for peace as slaughter in Gaza goes on
THE Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas-backed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh have begun talks in an effort to stop the barrage of rockets fired into Israel.
The negotiations, taking place at secret location, are also aimed at shoring up a truce among factions in the volatile Gaza strip.
A week of internecine fighting has left more than 50 Palestinians dead and countless others maimed.
"My God burn all of them," cursed Amar Hamada (27), a young Fatah security service agent who was pulled out of a car by Hamas gunmen. After whipping him with the butt of a Kalashnikov, they broke his arms with a hammer and fired multiple shots at his legs from close range.
"All of them will make a deal, God willing - Hamas and Fatah, and also Israel," said Mohammed Bazhat, as he sits by his injured son's hospital bed. As the politicians met, Israel began a second week of air strikes hitting what the army said were Hamas weapons storage and production sites.
