JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the killing of five members of a Jewish family "despicable," "inhuman and immoral."
"A human being is not capable of something like that," Abbas continued in Arabic during an interview Monday morning on Israel Radio. Abbas’ words were translated into Hebrew by the interviewer.
"Had we had advance information, we would have prevented this," Abbas said of the Sabbath eve attack which left five members of the Fogel family of Itamar dead, including a 3-month-old baby. Abbas also said that the P.A. would work to find the killer or killers responsible and that he has agreed a request by Israel to launch a joint investigation.
Abbas, who called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to offer his condolences – which Netanyahu called "weak and mumbled statements" – took issue during the interview with Netanyahu’s accusation that the Palestinian Authority incites against Israel in its mosques and schools. He offered to set up an Israeli-Palestinian-American committee to look in to the allegations.
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