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Hamas: Reconciliation best response to Israeli 'noisiness'

October 19, 2017 at 2:01 am

Deputy Chairman of the Movement’s Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri [Ahmed Gamil/Anadolu Agency]

Hamas rejected today the conditions imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinian reconciliation, describing it as “an intolerable prying in the Palestinian affairs.”

The Islamic movement’s political bureau member, Ezzet Resheq, said on twitter that “The conditions set by the Israeli occupation as regards the national reconciliation process reveal the fear inhibiting the Israelis. The Palestinian Authority should take a firm action in response to such divisive attempts.”

Hamas spokesperson, Fawzi Barhoum, said in a press statement yesterday that the Israeli conditions are signs of intolerable snooping in the Palestinians’ internal affairs.

“National consensus is the best response to Israel’s noisiness,” Barhoum stressed, calling all Palestinians to ignore what he described as “blatant Zionist interventions.”

Israel: No talks with PA unless Hamas disarms

On his part, the Palestinian presidency spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudaina, quoted the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas as saying that “the Palestinian nation must ignore the Israeli interference and proceed with the reconciliation process.”

Abu Rudaina added that the Cairo-brokered reconciliation process is proceeding in the right direction and that the Israeli attempts to impede it “won’t succeed.”

In a new Israeli move to derail efforts to heal rifts in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel’s security cabinet announced yesterday that Israel “will not engage in any political negotiations with the Palestinian unity government, if it is established following a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.”

Later, the cabinet set seven conditions that it said “must be met ahead any negotiations between Israel and the unified Palestinian government.” The conditions included Hamas’s recognition of Israel and cessation of anti-occupation operations, disarmament of Hamas, the return of Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza, and severance of Hamas ties with Iran.