Ramallah: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas threatened today to abandon peace talks with Israel so as not to support its deadly "aggression" against Gaza.

In televised comments, Abbas said he "would not hesitate to stop" the negotiations "if they go against our interests and offer a support to aggression," a reference to the five-day-old Israeli bombardment of Gaza that has killed at least 393 Palestinians.

He denounced the bombardment as a "barbaric and criminal aggression."

"The conflict will not end if the noble Palestinian people do not regain their rights. What end will negotiations serve if the doors remain closed," he said.

"Even as we remain convinced of the strategy and the objective and our desire not to go back, we don't see why we should continue (with the talks) in the same manner that they have been conducted so far."

Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace negotiations to great fanfare in November 2007,but the talks have made little progress since.

The moderate Abbas, who lost control of Gaza when the Islamists seized it in June 2007,has been accused by Hamas of seeking to retake power in the enclave with Israeli complicity.

Israel unleashed a deadly offensive against Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday in retaliation for persistent rocket fire from the enclave.

Source : PTI