Abbas affirms readiness to muzzle guns in Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who received US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, expressed readiness to restore calm in the occupied territories and Gaza. Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Dr. Saeb Erekat, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Abbas expressed the readiness to halt the violence considering that the casualty toll in Gaza soared to "140 martyrs and more than 1,000 wounded." For her part, he added, Clinton assured the president that the US Administration was exerting all possible effort to enforce a cease-fire in Gaza. He also indicated that Egypt was playing a pivotal role in this regard. Clinton, during today's meeting with president Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah, has also notified him that she would proceed to Cairo for talks with President Mohammad Morsi on the efforts for halting the armed hostilities. Erekat quoted Abbas as saying during the meeting that an immediate cease-fire must be reached because Gaza was facing "humanitarian catastrophe and massacre." Clinton, for her part, reiterated that Washington was adamantly against Abbas' plan to seek non-membership representation at the UN.