The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has lambasted recent pro-occupation statements by the US ambassador to Israel, who reaffirmed Washington's full support for the annexation of the West Bank and said the Tel Aviv regime had a “right” to do so.
Earlier this week, David Friedman said Washington was ready to recognize Israel's so-called "sovereignty" in parts of the occupied West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, as enshrined in the much-condemned US President Donald Trump's proposed scheme for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On Friday, Hamas spokesman Hazen Qasem strongly slammed Freidman's remarks, describing them as a “violation of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights", stressing that they were in line with the White House's policy of falsifying facts to further serve Tel Aviv’s agenda.
The Hamas spokesman, whose remarks were carried by the Palestinian Information Center, also stressed that Palestinians are the real owners of the Palestinian territories and they will continue their legitimate struggle until the end of the occupation and will establish their independent state with Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
In an open defiance of the international outcry, Trump officially unveiled his proposal for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in January at the White House with Netanyahu on his side, while Palestinian representatives were not invited.
The American president's scheme largely meets Israel’s demands while creating a Palestinian state with limited control over its own security and borders, enshrining the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allowing the regime to annex settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
The proposal, which further denies the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland, is also in total disregard of UN Security Council resolutions and is opposed by the vast majority of the international community.
Palestinian leaders – who cut all ties with Washington in late 2017 after Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel – immediately rejected the Trump ‘deal,’ with President Mahmoud Abbas saying it “belongs to the dustbin of history.”
They regard the so-called peace proposal as Washington’s seal of approval for Israel’s long-desired annexation of territories it has been illegally occupying for decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a number of criminal indictments, has repeatedly stressed that he would start plans for annexing more areas in the West Bank on July 1, in accordance with Trump’s scheme.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
