Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoa on Sunday denounced the meetings between senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and Israeli government ministers.
Faraan: “The discourse reflects the fall of the PA. The continuation of these ridiculous meetings is a betrayal and should be stopped immediately,” he said in a statement quoted by the Maariv newspaper.
The statement followed a meeting held n Sunday between Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and senior PA official Hussein Al-Sheikh.
Al-Sheikh, who is in charge of the coordination with Israel and is close to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, wrote on Twitter, “We will announce another 500 families who will receive a Palestinian identity card.”
After the meeting, the senior PA official said, “I stressed to Lapid the vital need for the existence of political horizons between the parties, based on international legitimacy.”
Last month, Hamas condemned a meeting between Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Abbas, saying that “this is a stabbing in the back of the intifada that is taking place in the West Bank.”
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, added that “the fact that the meeting is taking place while Palestinian residents of the West Bank are being attacked by settlers only intensifies the crime of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.”
The organization also published a cartoon in which Abbas is seen polishing the shoes of the Israeli Defense Minister.
