Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday said peace efforts with Israel must move forward, despite a bloody spate of violence capped by a deadly attack on a Jewish seminary. Abbas also reiterated his support for Egypt's efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Despite all the circumstances we're living through and all the attacks we're experiencing, we insist on peace. There is no other path,” Abbas said in a speech marking international women's day. Israel has sent mixed signals since Thursday night's shooting, in which a Palestinian gunman burst into a prestigious Jerusalem seminary and killed eight students. Officials have indicated a willingness to move ahead with peace talks with Abbas, launched last November at a US-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland. The sides hope to reach a final agreement by the end of the year. The Egyptian-backed truce efforts remain more cloudy, especially if it turns out that Hamas was behind the seminary shooting. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel “remains committed to the Annapolis framework.” But he said there were no decisions on when talks would resume. “We believe in historic reconciliation with the Palestinians. One of the foundations of Annapolis was no tolerance of terrorism. The best way to move forward is for the Palestinian side to be a real partner, not only in talks, but in helping to fight this sort of hateful extremism we saw this week.” __
