Extremists must stop marketing their terrorist acts in the name of
Palestine, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said
Wednesday, condemning the murder of four French Jews at a school in Toulouse.
French
Interior Minister Gueant earlier Wednesday said the gunman wanted
revenge "for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to attack the
French army because of its foreign intervention."
"Extremists
must stop pretending to stand up for the rights of Palestinian children
who only ask for a decent life," AFP quoted Fayyad as saying.
In
a joint statement, the PLO, the PA and Palestinian missions to France
and UNESCO condemned the attack, according to AFP. "All racist crimes
are attacks on humanity in general and on the republic in particular,"
the statement said.
Meanwhile, about 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armor, cordoned off an area
surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighborhood, where the
24-year-old gunman, named as Muhammad Merah, was holed up. Shots were
heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers
had been slightly wounded.