Abbas says peace efforts must continue, despite recent violence

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said peace efforts with Israel must move forward, despite an especially bloody spate of violence capped by a deadly attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem.

Abbas also reiterated his support for Egypt's efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

"Despite all the circumstances we're living through and all the attacks we're experiencing, we insist on peace. There is no other path," Abbas said in a speech marking international women's day.

Abbas called for a "calm" in Gaza and reiterated his support for the Egyptian efforts. "These brutal attacks (in Gaza) must stop and these rockets must stop, and Gaza's border crossings must open, all of them," he said.

Israel has sent mixed signals since Thursday night's shooting, in which a Palestinian gunman burst into a  prestigious Jerusalem seminary and killed eight students, many of whom were studying religious holy texts in the building's library.

Officials have indicated a willingness to move ahead with peace talks with Abbas, launched last November at a US-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland. The sides hope to reach a final agreement by the end of the year.

The Egyptian-backed truce efforts remain more cloudy, especially if it turns out that Hamas was behind the seminary shooting.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel "remains committed to the Annapolis framework." But he said there were no decisions on when talks would resume.

"We believe in historic reconciliation with the Palestinians. One of the foundations of Annapolis was no

tolerance of terrorism. The best way to move forward is for the Palestinian side to be a real partner, not only in talks, but in helping to fight this sort of hateful extremism we saw this week."

The US has said extremist violence should not be allowed to derail peace talks.

Regev declined to discuss the Egyptian mediation efforts. But in a sign that Israel was preparing to resume contacts, Israel Radio reported that Amos Gilad, a senior Defense Ministry official, would head to Egypt on Sunday to discuss the Gaza situation. Israeli defense officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.

The outlook could become clearer once Israel determines who was responsible for the attack. The shooter has been identified as Alaa Abu Dheim, a 25-year-old Palestinian man from east Jerusalem, but it remains unclear whether he acted alone or received support.