Hamas shocked by Arabs

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Saturday it was shocked Arab countries have decided to attend next week’s U.S.-backed Mideast peace summit and underlined its opposition with a threat to launch deadlier rocket attacks on Israel.

Hamas argues the time is not right for talks with Israel because the Palestinians are divided. With the Islamic militant group in control of Gaza, Hamas says moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t have a mandate to negotiate.

“The announcement of the Arabs that they would participate in the Annapolis conference was a great shock for the Palestinian people,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, said in a statement. “Participation opens doors for normalization of relations with the Israeli occupiers.”

Another Hamas official said the group was on the brink of developing a more lethal type of warhead for the rockets it regularly lobs from Gaza into Israel. “They can be developed in a short period to create sufficient terror and fear and make the Israelis live in pain no less than what our people live through,” said Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in Gaza. Israel warmly welcomed the Arab League decision Friday.

to go to the Mideast conference in Annapolis, Md., has repeatedly said it expects Hamas to try and thwart peace efforts.

“We take these threats very seriously,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in response to Yousef’s comments .

Gaza militants have fired hundreds of crude, homemade rockets at Israeli border communities in recent years, killing 12 people.

In a statement sent to reporters, Yousef said the rockets have had “limited effect because they don’t carry lethal warheads.”

Israel has launched limited incursions into Gaza in recent months to try to halt rocket fire. It has also cut back on fuel to Gaza and plans to reduce electricity supplies to the territory starting Dec. 2.