Israel to continue extremist policies under netanyahu: Hamas

Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal has warned that the Israeli regime will adopt more ‘extremist’ policies following the March election, which saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win another term in office.

There would be “more extremism” as Netanyahu’s Likud party and its right-wing allies have remained in power in the occupied Palestinian territories, Meshaal stated in an interview with the state-funded BBC.

The Hamas political leader further blamed Israel’s “extremist leadership” for the failure of the so-called peace process, saying that Tel Aviv’s policies has killed “every opportunity of a political solution for the Palestinian cause.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he condemned Takfiri terrorist groups such as the al-Nusra Front and ISIL for perpetrating acts of violence in the name of the holy religion of Islam.

Meshaal also rejected the claims that Hamas flares up violence in the occupied territories and the besieged Gaza strip, stressing that “as long as there is occupation, aggression, war and killing,” the Palestinian resistance will continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves hand to his supporters during a speech. © AFP

Netanyahu had vowed prior to his re-election that the Palestinians would not get an independent state in the occupied West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Gaza if he secured a new term.

Rights groups and the international community have severely criticized Netanyahu for his electoral promise to press ahead with settlement construction in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

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

Much of the international community regards the settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.