Abbas slams 'atrocious' repression by Hamas

             Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday denounced the "atrocious and inhumane" repression by Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group. "The method used by Hamas is atrocious and inhumane. I do not know this small group but I think it is an offshoot of Hamas," said Abbas while chairing the weekly meeting of the Palestinian government in Ramallah. Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, crushed on Friday night a small group called Jund Ansar Allah that challenged its authority. The clashes in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah left 24 people dead. At the cabinet meeting, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad presented his government's plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state "within the next two years." Negotiations with Israel for the creation of such a state have been frozen since December 2008, and the Palestinian Authority calls for the cessation of Jewish settlements in the territories, a demand which has been rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. Abbas said during the cabinet meeting that negotiation was the only path to statehood, espousing non-violence after his Fatah party backed an option of "resistance" against Israeli occupation. "We are peace seekers," the Western-backed leader said. "The main and the only path is the path of peace and negotiations. We don't have any other path and we do not wish to use any other path." (23,00)