Hamas says talks with Israel futile

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has rejected any talks with the Israeli regime, saying the move would ‘not bring anything new’ to Palestinians.

Referring to efforts made by US Secretary of State John Kerry to revive the so-called Middle East peace process, Hamas on Saturday said the talks would be a “mirage.”

“We in Hamas look carefully at US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to re-launch the so-called peace process, which is based upon an American-Zionist agenda which sees settlements devour land and the Judaization of Jerusalem (al-Quds) and holy sites,” Palestinian news agency Maa’an quoted a Hamas statement as saying.

Kerry is scheduled to have another meeting Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday. The US secretary of state also met with Abbas in Jordan on June 28.

US, Israeli and Palestinian officials have declined to reveal details of the past three days of closed-door meetings.

Kerry’s efforts to restart direct negotiations between the Tel Aviv regime and Palestinians have stalled over Israel’s policy of expanding illegal settlements.

On June 26, Israel approved final plans to construct another 69 new settler units in East al-Quds.

The settler units will be built in Har Homa, an illegal settlement neighborhood in the southern sector of East al-Quds.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The settlements are considered by the international community as illegal, because the territories were captured by Israel and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.