Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

    RAMALLAH, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday called on Israel to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinians and end occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

    Abbas made the appeal in a speech marking the second anniversary of the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

    "In this day, as we are marking the anniversary of Arafat's passing away, I tell Israel that there is no law on earth legalizing killings of women and children," said Abbas.

    "The occupation of our Palestinian territories must end immediately, and Jewish settlements are illegal and should be removed. Jerusalem is our eternal capital of our independent Palestinian state," he added.

    Israel seized the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem as well as the Golan Heights from the Arabs in the 1967 Middle East War.