Thousands take to streets for Palestinian funerals

THOUSANDS of Palestinians took to the streets yesterday for the mass funeral of 12 Palestinians who were killed during a raid by Israeli troops on a Hamas stronghold following a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Gunmen marching among the crowd called for revenge, and one armed militiaman speaking from a loudspeaker warned the new Palestinian government against co-operating with a fresh peace plan or trying to disarm Palestinian militias.

Palestinian officials and Israeli opposition leaders accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of using Thursday's raid in Gaza to undercut the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, before he has a chance to fulfill a promise to get armed groups to stop their fight against Israel. The raid came just a day after international mediators presented the so-called "road map" to peace.