The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Damascus

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday accused Israel of splitting the Palestinian territories into isolated cantons to prevent the creation of a state despite its pledge to peace efforts. "Israel is continuing its aggression, its occupation, the construction of settlements and the Judaisation of Jerusalem," Abbas told the opening session of an Arab summit in Damascus. "The solution which Israel is designing consists of a group of cantons on a land separated by settlements, the separation wall and roadblocks," he said. "This type of solution only reinforces the occupation and colonisation and is aimed at preventing the creation of an independent Palestinian state," Abbas added.