Hamas says Abbas does not reflect Palestinian consensus

Palestine’s Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has said that the ideas expressed by President Mahmoud Abbas in his latest interview with the New York Times are his personal views and do not reflect the national consensus. Abbas told the newspaper that he suggested to Secretary of State John Kerry that a US-led NATO force could be deployed indefinitely in a future state of Palestine.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a written press statement released on Monday that Abbas’s ideas do not constitute a solution. “Rather, they pose a threat to Palestinians’ rights and basic national constants.”

The ideas expressed in the New York Times by Abbas do not reflect the reality of the national consensus and the Palestinian rejection of the negotiation process, added Dr Abu Zuhri.