GAZA, (PIC) Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said on Friday that his movement rejects the U.S. call for direct negotiations between the Oslo team in Ramallah and the Israeli occupation to start in Washington early September.
“We in the Hamas movement reject the U.S. call to resume the Israeli-Palestinian talks,” Abu Zuhri said considering this call and any of its consequences as “not binding to the Palestinian people.”
He added, in a press statement, that this call is no more than another attempt at deceiving the Palestinian people similar to the Annapolis conference in 2007 when the Palestinian were promised a Palestinian state within a year, but the result after years was going to starting point.
He also said that since the U.S. call even ignored the issue of a freeze on settlement activity, going to such negotiations lends legitimacy to settlements.
The U.S. secretary of state Hilary Clinton announced on Friday the resumption of direct peace talks in Washington on 2 September with the participation of President Husni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan with the aim of reaching an agreement “within a year”.