Hamas said today [Wednesday, April 9, 2014] that Palestinians in the West Bank should ‘give full rein’ to resistance against the Israeli occupation and end security cooperation with Israel.
(Ma’an/AFP) The move comes just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli government officials to stop cooperation with Palestinian officials as part of a round of sanctions on the PA, as peace negotiations between the two sides stalled in recent days.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun said PA President Mahmoud Abbas should take advantage of Netanyahu’s decision and end all aspects of security coordination with Israel.
Abbas should let resistance ‘deter the Israeli occupation and defend our people, our land, and our holy places,’ Barhoun said in a statement.
He said Abbas should end negotiations and recruit regional and international opposition to the occupation.
The failure of the the peace talks so far proves that Hamas was correct in its view that negotiations with Israel only have a negative impact on the Palestinian people, the statement said.
Barhoun also urged Arab countries to support regional and international divestment from Israel.
Arab foreign ministers who gathered, on Wednesday, with President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel was ‘wholly responsible for the dangerous stalemate’ in US-brokered peace talks scheduled to end on April 29.
The emergency meeting was requested by Abbas after Israel backtracked on releasing a final batch of Palestinian prisoners and reissued tenders for 708 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel’s government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
Netanyahu’s decision to cut coordination with Palestinian officials comes in response to the PLO’s decision to apply to join 15 international conventions.
Palestinian officials say the decision to apply to the international conventions was in direct response to Israel’s failure to release a fourth and final round of veteran prisoners as agreed.
