Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has announced that a referendum on statehood will be held on July 26. The referendum is strongly opposed by the ruling Islamic Hamas movement, which has just ended a 16-month old truce with Israel. CRI Jerusalem correspondent Liao Jibo has more.
Liao Jibo
 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave a very angry and emotional speech in Ramallah on Saturday.
The moderate Palestinian leader strongly criticized the dialogues that various factions had held for more than two weeks but ended with nothing.
“Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is a waste of time. The problem is that time has become a sword on our neck. every day, every hour, every moment the condition deteriorates further and further,” he says.
He says there are no other options but to go to a referendum and ask the Palestinian people if they support the so-called Prisoners’ Document.
The document was submitted last month by some leaders of factions jailed in Israeli prisons. It calls for a Palestinian State in the Gaza Strip, west bank and East Jerusalem, and implicitly recognizes Israel.
Abbas has issued a president decree that the referendum will be held on the 26th of next month.
Shortly after his speech, Hamas rejected the referendum plan. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri condemned the move as a coup against the Hamas led government.
He says it is an attempt to create an uprising in the Palestinian lands and will divide the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile in Gaza Strip, thousands of people attended the funerals of seven civilians killed by Israeli shells.
Children and women were among the dead, while dozens were injured.
The mourners carried the bodies of the victims in a procession in Gaza and chanted revenge and destroy Israel.
Ten years old girl Houda Ghalia had her father and five other family members killed in the attack.
"Why is it my fault that I should live without a parent? They are all dead or severely injured,” she says.
After the attack, the military wing of Hamas broke a 16-month-old truce with Israel by firing several home-made rockets into the Jewish state..
None of them caused any damages, but they raised the prospect of a renewed bloodshed between Hamas and Israel.
Liao Jibo, CRI News, Jerusalem.
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Director: Liu Chi