GAZA CITY: Hamas former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyah said yesterday that the militant Islamist Palestinian group would not hold any direct talks with Israel.
There would be “no direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy”, Haniyah said in a public address in the Gaza Strip, and called on Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to “review” his own strategy of talks with Israel. Hamas does not recognise Israel which denounces Hamas as a “terrorist” organisation, and the two sides have never had any overt direct contact.
But on Friday, exiled Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzuq — along with Haniyah one of the movement’s two deputy leaders — said direct talks with the Jewish state might be unavoidable in light of planned negotiations in Cairo to consolidate last month’s tentative Gaza truce.
“If the situation remains as it is now... Hamas could find itself forced to do this,” Abu Marzuq said, referring to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza after 50 days of Israeli pounding from air, land and sea, which ended on August 26.
“From a legal (Islamic) perspective there is nothing wrong with negotiating with the occupation,” he said, indicating it could be necessary in order to guarantee the “rights” of the people of Gaza.
Truce talks are due to resume in Egypt later this month, but Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal has himself ruled out face-to-face dealings with the Israelis.
“Direct negotiations with the Israeli occupier are not on the agenda of Hamas; if negotiations are necessary they must be indirect,” he said on Friday. AFP
