Hamas shuns Bush's peace push, vows to fight Israel

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas Islamists rejected U.S. President George W. Bush's drive for peace in the Middle East on Wednesday and vowed to undermine Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by keeping up their fight against the Jewish state.

Bush is due to revive long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at a White House summit on Wednesday after the two sides agreed to try and seal an accord on creating a Palestinian state by the end of next year.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants a state in the West Bank and Gaza but Hamas Islamists, who violently seized control of Gaza in June, claim a right to all land that is now Israel and oppose Abbas's drive for peace with the Jewish state.

A Hamas official said a pledge by Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction holds sway in the larger West Bank, to rein in Palestinian militants was "criminal".

"The demand by Bush is rejected and resistance will continue by all means against the (Israeli) occupation," Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Israel considers Gaza an enemy and launches regular raids into the coastal territory to try to curb rockets fired into Israeli towns by Palestinians militants.

Israeli missiles struck a Hamas security post in southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing two Hamas naval police officers, medics and the Islamist group said.

"MISSION IMPOSSIBLE"

The Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees group illustrated the difficulties Abbas faces in Gaza by firing several rockets into Israel on Wednesday -- a move it said was in direct response to declarations at Annapolis.

Clashes also broke out in the West Bank city of Hebron between Abbas's security forces and protesters at the funeral of a man killed in an Islamist anti-Annapolis rally on Tuesday. At least 29 people were wounded.

Gaza-based political analyst Hani Habib said Abbas faced a "mission impossible" in trying to tame the territory, even though he may win support from some Gazans if he can persuade Israel to ease border restrictions.

"Hamas would do all in its power to abort any attempt by Abbas to regain control of Gaza, and may even try to undermine his authority in the West Bank too," Habib said.

Ordinary Gazans were divided along political lines over Tuesday's conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

Pro-Hamas university student Wael Abu Kwaik denounced the "lies and deception" at the conference, while pro-Fatah student Muatasem Shabana said he trusted Abbas to seek peace and a Palestinian state.

"I urge those who keep saying no to everything to bring us an alternative," he said.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)