Hamas denies endorsing the two-state solution

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has denied the claims by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) that the movement endorses the two-state solution.

An official in the movement said on Monday that, “Abbas’s frequent statements that Hamas has mandated him to negotiate the establishment of a future Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 requires us to explain this issue to the Palestinian people.” The official cited one example of when Abu Mazen told Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that: “There is a formal written agreement between us and Hamas where the movement agrees to engage in peace talks with Israel aimed at establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. The movement has also agreed to adopt peaceful popular resistance.”

Contrary to this statement, the official clarified that: “Hamas did not mandate Mr Abbas or anyone else to agree to the two-state solution. Hamas affirms its stated position that it will never accept this solution or waiver an inch of Palestinian land.”

He further explained that: “In 2006, the Palestinian political parties signed a national reconciliation agreement on common issues, including to establish the future Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, to have Jerusalem as its capital and to allow the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes without recognising Israel or its legitimacy on Palestinian land, in contrast to what the PLO agreed to in the Oslo accords. All forms of resistance against Israel will continue; mainly armed resistance, which we believe is the only viable method to achieve the Palestinian peoples’ aspirations to liberate their land and to allow the refugees back to their lands. The movement stands firmly behind its stance.”

The official reiterated his movement’s calls upon President Abbas to immediately stop the negotiations, saying that: “We call upon Mr Abu Mazen to the stop the security coordination with Israel and to release all political prisoners held captive in the Palestinian Authority’s prisons in order to restore the Palestinian national project, which US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israel want to liquidate with their so-called proposed framework agreement.”

SOURCE: Quds Net