Hamas urges Ramallah authority to halt “disastrous” negotiations

Hamas movement urged the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to immediately stop the “disastrous” negotiations with Israel.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli occupation’s decision to build 1,500 new housing units in occupied Jerusalem was the natural outcome of the negotiations with the PA.

He charged that the negotiations were providing a cover for such “practices and crimes”.

Abu Zuhri said that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to build those units in return for releasing Palestinian prisoners pointed to the dangers of employing the issue of those prisoners for blackmail.

He said that Hamas welcomes the release of any Palestinian prisoner from Israeli jails but affirms no political price should be paid.

For his part, Ra’fat Marra, the head of information affairs in Hamas’s office in Lebanon, said that his movement was concerned that the Palestinian negotiator might give up constants in the current negotiations with Israel.

Marra, who was visiting the Lebanese information ministry within a delegation of his movement, said that Hamas was concerned that the Palestinian negotiator would bow to international pressures calling for reaching an agreement with Israel over all issues.

He said that his movement was adamant on adopting resistance as a strategic option that would lead to liberating national soil and returning all refugees.