Commenting on the PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ acceptance to meet Netanyahu without preconditions, Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum stated the following:

While the Israeli PM Netanyahu is insisting on annexing and stealing Palestinian lands, expanding settlements in the West Bank, judaizing Jerusalem, maintaining the Gaza siege, and abolishing the Palestinian refugees right of return, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian Authority Riyad al-Maliki makes a weird statement highlighting that the PA President Mahmoud Abbas’  is prepared to meet Netanyahu in Moscow with no preconditions.

Indeed, this statement is an insult to the Palestinian people and cause.  It will, furthermore, weaken the Palestinian position and limit the political cards of Abbas.  In a word, Riyad al-Maliki’s statement is a part of the pro bono concessions made by the PA at the expense of the Palestinian national rights. 

Instead, the PA should have backtracked on its unilateral and isolationist policy and sought ways to bolster unity and end division by calling for an immediate meeting of the Palestinian Framework where the Palestinian leaders and icons would discuss the ways to confront the dangers and challenges posed to the Palestinian issue, rights, and holy sites. In such a meeting, the Palestinian leadership would also work on reforming and reactivating the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and reversing the decisions and policies taken without consensus.

Fawzi Barhoum

Hamas spokesperson

April 16, 2019