End Israel security cooperation: Hamas

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called on Palestinians in the West Bank to end security cooperation with the Tel Aviv regime.

The development came on Wednesday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli authorities to halt cooperation with Palestinian officials as part of a round of sanctions on the Palestinian Authority as US-brokered negotiations between the two sides stalled in recent days, Ma’an News Agency reported.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun further stated that acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas should take advantage of Netanyahu’s decision and end all aspects of security coordination with the Israeli regime.

Abbas should let resistance “deter the Israeli occupation and defend our people, our land, and our holy places,” Barhoun underlined in a statement cited in the report.

He added that Abbas should halt negotiations and work for forming regional and international opposition to the Israeli occupation.

The statement further said that the failure of the talks proves that Hamas was right in its position that negotiating with Tel Aviv would only have a negative impact on the Palestinian nation.

Barhoun also urged Arab countries to support regional and international divestment and boycotting of the Israeli regime.

Palestinian Authority officials argue that their decision to apply to the international conventions was in direct response to Israel’s failure to release a fourth and final round of long-held Palestinian prisoners as earlier pledged.

Israel has announced the construction of thousands of settler units since the US-sponsored negotiations began.