Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have staged a protest rally to object to the planned resumption of US-backed talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli regime, Press TV reports.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was the organizer of the Sunday event, called on the PA to abandon the talks and return to resistance against the Tel Aviv regime.
In this regard, Rabah Mohanna, a senior PFLP official, told Press TV that the US-sponsored negotiations would not benefit the Palestinians.
The Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 over disagreements on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
On July 25, Israeli Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom said the talks may resume in Washington next week.
Most Palestinian factions have condemned the decision by acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to restart talks with the Israeli regime.
The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), which represents more than 130 Palestinian civil society organizations, has also called on the PA not to attend the negotiations.
Amjad Shawa, a PNGO member, said Abbas should resist pressure from the US and make efforts to reach national unity among the Palestinians instead of negotiating with Israel.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has rejected a proposal by US Secretary of State John Kerry for the resumption of talks, saying it “considers the Palestinian Authority’s return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus.”
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
