Abbas denounces ‘Zionist enemy’ after attack

? Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas denounced Israel as the “Zionist enemy” Tuesday — his harshest language yet on the campaign trail — after Israeli tank shells slammed into a strawberry patch, killing seven Palestinians, many of them children.

Israel insisted their shells hit militants who were firing mortar rounds at Israeli targets, but relatives and witnesses said the dead were children and teenagers, and a senior army commander apologized for civilian casualties. It was the bloodiest strike in Gaza in three months.

Abbas’ rhetoric has grown increasingly hard-line during a four-day campaign swing through Gaza as he reached out to younger, more militant Palestinians ahead of Sunday’s election. But his comments condemning Tuesday’s deaths were his most inflammatory.

“We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya,” Abbas told thousands of supporters, using a term for Israel usually employed by Islamic militants.

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom broke with his government’s policy of not criticizing Abbas during the campaign.

“Israel is very concerned about Abu Mazen’s recent statements which are very militant … and the like of which we haven’t heard in a long time,” he said, referring to Abbas by his nickname.

In Washington, the State Department responded with strong criticism.

“Obviously, we find such language disturbing,” said Rhonda Shore, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. “Such rhetoric has no place in the process of resuming dialogue and rebuilding trust and confidence between both sides.”