Palestinian killed in anti-Annapolis protest

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - A demonstrator was killed on Tuesday at a Palestinian rally against the Annapolis conference when clashes broke out between security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and Islamists who call him a traitor.

But while some Palestinians denounced their president for agreeing at the meeting near Washington to launch formal talks with Israel, others applauded his "strength" in spelling out his people's demands while seeking peace.

Abbas agreed with U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to launch immediate talks on creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel with a goal of sealing an accord by the end of next year.

In Gaza, where Hamas Islamists seized control in June, tens of thousands had marched to chants of "Death to Israel" and called Abbas a "traitor" for accepting Israel's existence and agreeing to talks on a state in only the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas officials dismissed a joint statement agreed by Abbas and Olmert and read out by Bush as a "waste of time", describing a pledge by Abbas to rein in Palestinian militants as "criminal" and saying Bush was "completely biased" in favor of Israel.

"Bush has failed to deliver anything for the Palestinians during his two terms in office," said senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri in Gaza. "Is he going now to be able to deliver a state as he walks out of the White House?"

But some in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, praised the president -- often known by his familiar name Abu Mazen -- for sticking to his guns on tough "final status" issues such as the status of Jerusalem, borders and the fate of refugees.

"This is the strongest speech I have heard from Abu Mazen," said Raed Fayez, 35, in Ramallah. "Abu Mazen didn't compromise."

Nidal Mouhtasib, a 28-year-old accountant from Hebron, also voiced optimism: "Both sides expressed readiness to make concessions. I hope peace will come."

"FLESH AND BLOOD"

But Hamas's victory in a parliamentary election last year, its control of Gaza and the presence of substantial opposition to Abbas's secular Fatah faction, even in the West Bank, are among reasons cited for doubting the peace process can succeed.

Hamas, which is shunned by the West for refusing to renounce violence, was not invited to the conference near Washington.

Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians defied a ban on anti-Annapolis rallies in the West Bank to attend protests organized by a small Islamist group.

Palestinian security forces tried to disperse demonstrators by hitting them with batons, shooting into the air and firing tear gas. Hebron medics said one protester was killed and 16 injured. Fellow protesters said a Palestinian security officer shot the man but police denied security forces were responsible.

In Jordan, home to 1.9 million Palestinians, jeering crowds joined an Annapolis protest rally in Amman, and hundreds of Palestinian refugees staged a protest in Lebanon.

In Gaza, journalists estimated crowds of up to 100,000 people marching against the peace conference. Hamas put the number closer to 250,000, similar to the turnout at a rally called by Abbas's secular Fatah faction this month for the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death.

"There will be no concessions over one inch of Palestine," Mohammed al-Hindi, an Islamic Jihad leader, told the rally. "We will defend this land by our flesh and water it by our blood."

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Atef Sa'ed in Nablus and Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem; Writing by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Sami Aboudi)