Hamas Warns Abu Mazen On Peace Talks With Israel
The rift is widening between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas after the announcement that talks with Israel may resume.
On July 19, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that an agreement had been reached on the foundations for direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The announcement came as a surprise to the Palestinian factions, especially the Islamic resistance movement Hamas.
The following day, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk raised questions on his Facebook page regarding “the foundations of the negotiations, which Kerry talked about, if the negotiations between [the Israelis] and the Palestinians resume after the Zionists had rejected what the Palestinian side asked for.” He added that the secrecy and the ambiguity regarding this matter indicate that there may be new concessions from the Palestinians, and that such concessions are rejected by all Palestinian forces.
The fact that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas abandoned his conditions for the resumption of negotiations was highly controversial. The conditions included a settlement freeze, the release of prisoners jailed before the Oslo agreement and the recognition that the June 1967 border is a basis for the negotiations.
Pressure and concessions
