Hamas, Hardline Israelis Denounce AnnapolisConference.

By Jim Teeple (VOA-Jerusalem)

Hamas terrorists and Israeli opposition leaders and their supporters on Mon= day denounced the Mideast peace conference set to get under way Tuesday in = Annapolis, Md. It was also another violent day along the Israeli Gaza Strip= border with four Palestinians

About 15,000 Israelis marched through the streets of Jerusalem Monday night= , gathering just outside the residence of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to den= ounce the Annapolis peace conference. Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu,= who heads the right wing Likud Party, called the peace conference a contin= uation of one sided concessions.

Meanwhile, Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, who were not invited to the = conference, stepped up their criticism of both the conference and of modera= te Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who they called a traitor to the Pa= lestinian people.

Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, seized power in Gaza in June, ous= ting Abbas' Fatah movement from the territory. Ismail Haniyeh, a leading Ha= mas figure, said any agreements that come out of the Annapolis conference w= ould be rejected by Palestinians. He said Abbas has no right to make conces= sions at Annapolis, and any agreements that come out of the conference woul= d only be binding for those who sign them.

And later Monday evening, an estimated 25,000 people took part in a mass pr= ayer service at the Western Wall against the positions that Israeli governm= ent leaders plan to take in Annapolis.