Abbas calls Israel ‘Zionist enemy’ after tank attack

MODERATE Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas attacked Israel as “the Zionist enemy” for the first time yesterday after an Israeli tank killed seven Palestinian youths in a Gaza strawberry field.

The words were certain to stir concerns in Israel, where images of Abbas embracing fighters during the campaign for a January 9 election have led some to question hopes for reviving peace talks after Yasser Arafat’s death.

The Israeli army said it had targeted militants who had crept into the strawberry field and fired mortar bombs into a nearby Jewish settlement in the occupied territory.