Hamas official calls Aqaba summit ‘worst sin of Arab states at this stage’

A senior member of the Hamas Political Bureau has described the security summit held in Aqaba on Sunday as “the worst sin committed by Arab states at this stage,” Watan Voice has reported. A joint communique issued by participants at the summit said that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan hosted Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian and US senior officials on 26 February for “comprehensive and frank discussions” to work towards a “just and lasting peace”.

“All the participants represented the Zionist interests at the expense of Palestinian rights,” said veteran Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar. “They went there under US pressure as Washington wanted to appease the Christian and Jewish Zionists.”

Zahar added that only the Palestinian people are able to protect themselves from the criminal measures imposed on them during this summit. “What is happening in the occupied West Bank precedes the end of the occupation. It is very similar to what happened in the Gaza Strip.” He pointed out that Palestinian Authority pressure on the Palestinian resistance in Gaza led to “stronger and more organised” resistance that forced the Israeli occupation out.

The permanent presence of Israeli troops and settlers was ended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, although Israel still controls the border crossings, airspace and Palestinian territorial waters, so the apartheid state is still legally and in every practical sense occupying the besieged Gaza Strip.

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