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Palestinian leader defends cooperation with Israel
bostonherald.com/news_opinion/international/middle_east/2014/06/palestinian_leader_defends_cooperation_with_israel
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank The Palestinian president on Wednesday defended his policy of security cooperation with Israel in a politically risky speech to senior Arab officials, even as Israeli forces escalated their most extensive West Bank crackdown in years in response to the apparent abduction of three Israeli teenagers.
President Mahmoud Abbas' comments were quickly condemned at home and shined a light on one of his most controversial policies working with the Israeli military to keep the Hamas militant group, which Israel accuses of carrying out the kidnapping, in check.
The three youths, Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, who disappeared late Thursday while hitchhiking home from Jewish seminaries in the West Bank. Accusing Hamas of being behind the apparent abduction, Israel has launched a widespread crackdown on the group, arresting scores of members while conducting a feverish manhunt for the missing youths.
In a speech to Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia, Abbas condemned the kidnapping, saying it had caused heavy damage to the Palestinians and that his forces were helping search for the missing teens.
"We are still looking and searching to find out who carried out such an act," Abbas said. "He who committed such an act wants to destroy us."
bostonherald.com/news_opinion/international/middle_east/2014/06/palestinian_leader_defends_cooperation_with_israel
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank The Palestinian president on Wednesday defended his policy of security cooperation with Israel in a politically risky speech to senior Arab officials, even as Israeli forces escalated their most extensive West Bank crackdown in years in response to the apparent abduction of three Israeli teenagers.
President Mahmoud Abbas' comments were quickly condemned at home and shined a light on one of his most controversial policies working with the Israeli military to keep the Hamas militant group, which Israel accuses of carrying out the kidnapping, in check.
The three youths, Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, who disappeared late Thursday while hitchhiking home from Jewish seminaries in the West Bank. Accusing Hamas of being behind the apparent abduction, Israel has launched a widespread crackdown on the group, arresting scores of members while conducting a feverish manhunt for the missing youths.
In a speech to Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia, Abbas condemned the kidnapping, saying it had caused heavy damage to the Palestinians and that his forces were helping search for the missing teens.
"We are still looking and searching to find out who carried out such an act," Abbas said. "He who committed such an act wants to destroy us."
