Chavez says Israel aims to 'terminate' Palestinians
Venezuelan president tells visiting PA leader Abbas his country 'on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle against genocidal state of Israel'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday charged that Israel aims to "terminate the Palestinian people" and said he backs the establishment of Jerusalem as capital of an independent Palestinian state.
"We .. are on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle ... against the genocidal state of Israel that knocks down, kills and aims to terminate the Palestinian people," Chavez told visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We reiterate ... our greatest commitment and our greatest solidarity ... for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with the holy city of Jerusalem as its capital."
Chavez gave no details to support his charge that the Jewish state sought to eliminate the Palestinian population.
Socialist Chavez is a harsh critic of both Israel and the United States. In January, Venezuela cut diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israeli offensive in Gaza of nearly a year ago, which Chavez called a Palestinian "holocaust."
Earlier Friday, Abbas dismissed an Israeli plan to temporarily halt new construction of West Bank settlements as insufficient, saying Palestinians don't accept Israel's tack in trying to restart peace negotiations.
The Palestinian president said during his first visit to Venezuela that "we can't accept the current Israeli government's concept for the negotiations."
"We don't have any condition to restarting negotiations except the commitment of the two sides to the foundations of the peace operation according to the road map, and especially stopping the expansionist activities of the Israelis," Abbas told lawmakers, speaking through an interpreter.
AP contributed to the report
