Abbas: IDF Attempts to Stop Missile Attacks 'Worse than Holocaust'

Fatah has been watching the war crimes of missiles raining down on Israeli civilians from Hamas-controlled Gaza for many months. Now that Israel is striking back at the Hamas they claim to be at war with, moderate Mahmoud Abbas is quick to opine on the belated Israeli incursion:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas labeled Israel's actions to counter the constant firing of rockets into the Gaza Strip "worse than the Holocaust."

Abbas said that Israel's response to the continuous bombardment of western Negev towns by Palestinian terrorists was too severe, saying that its operations which have left at least 80 Palestinians dead on Saturday were unacceptable retaliation to the firing of rockets.

The Fatah head was not the only Palestinian leader to be associating the military maneuvers with the Holocaust - exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal described the operations as "the real Holocaust" on Saturday afternoon.

"Israeli actions in Gaza since Wednesday is the real Holocaust," Mashaal told reporters in Damascus, where he lives in exile.

No mention of the fact that Abbas himself wrote his doctoral thesis and another book denying the Holocaust. Here is PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia echoing Abbas' talking points, calling the Israeli action a "genocide":

Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after 35 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed in pitched battles between Israeli troops and rocket squads that escalated sharply.

Israeli troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, went after militants who bombarded southern Israeli communities near Gaza with rockets and mortars. The 35 deaths pushed the Palestinian death toll to 65 since fighting flared Wednesday. More than half of those killed were civilians.

The spike in violence came as Israel was threatening to launch a broad invasion of Gaza, and just days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to arrive in the region on her latest peacekeeping mission.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

“I think it will be suspended,” Qureia said. “What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide,” Qureia added. “We can’t bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn’t led the peace process any credibility.”