TEHRAN, Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) - Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah on Saturday blasted a forthcoming US-hosted summit, which aims to revive long-stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
At a conference in Tehran, representatives of the two groups lashed out at the US move and predicted it would fail.
"This conference wants to destroy the Palestinian issue. This conference will fail," said Mussa Abu Marzuq, top aide to Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal.
"This conference is a fantasy and propaganda and it aims to attract the so-called moderate Arab nations to their side and part them from the Palestinian issue," he added.
The conference will be held on Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland.
Hezbollah's foreign relations chief, Sheikh Ali Daghmush said: "Israel (in this conference) aims to normalise ties with the Arab nations, so prevention of this Zionist plot should be carried out."
Hamas insists that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of all the Palestinians.
Iran, which does not recognise Israel, is one of the most vocal backers of Hamas and Hezbollah, and pledged millions of dollars in 2006 to the then Hamas government crippled by a Western aid cut.
US officials have pointed a finger at Iran, which they say helped Hamas fighters to seize control of the Gaza Strip in June, and of sponsoring Hezbollah.
Tehran denies supplying arms to either group, saying its support is a "moral" one.
Hamas, which has slated a "counter-conference" in Gaza on Monday, said earlier in the day it will step up attacks against Israeli troops there and in the West Bank after the Annapolis meeting.
"The period that will follow the Annapolis conference will witness an increase of the resistance against the Zionist occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Mussa Abu Marzuq, top aide to Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, said on the group's website.
"The Annapolis conference has two objectives: to help shore up (Israeli Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert after his defeat in the south of Lebanon and secondly to cover up for American plans of a war against Iran," he said.
Abu Marzuq, who is based in Syria along with Meshaal, urged Palestinians to voice their rejection of the conference by organising demonstrations.
