World Bulletin/News Desk

The resistance movement Hamas on Saturday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to participate in an Israeli conference on peace that will be held in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas' participation by delivering a speech in the conference would insult the feelings of the Palestinian people.

"We call on the president not to participate in this conference, especially after the killing and burning of Palestinian teen Mohamed Abu Khdeer," Abu Zuhri added in statements to the press.

Abu Khdeer, 16, was kidnapped, killed and burned by suspected Jewish settlers in Jerusalem a few days ago, but his killing has created general uproar both inside the Palestinian territories and outside them.

Abu Zuhri said Abbas' participation in the conference would give Israel the chance to fix its image after the international community was stunned by what he described as its "horrific crimes".

Abbas is expected to deliver a recorded speech in the conference, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat had cancelled out his participation in the conference earlier "out of respect for the feelings of the Palestinians", according to a statement by Erekat.

Tensions rose in the Palestinian territories last week when Abu Khdeer's burned body was found in Jerusalem. His death comes hard on the heels of the killing of three Jewish teens who went missing on a southern West Bank settlement on June 12.  

Soon after the disappearance of the teens, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of standing behind the crime.

Hamas said, however, that it has no knowledge about either the kidnapping or the killing of the three teens.