HAMAS has condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, following two days of talks in Doha that concluded on Friday, in which the Palestinian resistance movement did not participate.
Hamas gave its official response in a statement on Sunday, after reviewing the outcomes of the negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt as well as the United States.
It called on the mediators to present a concrete plan to implement the proposals agreed upon on July 2nd, emphasising the need to avoid a continuous cycle of stalled negotiations due to Netanyahu’s delaying tactics and new conditions.
The resistance movement accused Netanyahu of employing a strategy to buy time and prolong the aggression in Gaza. Hamas emphasised that the latest proposal presented during the talks aligns with Netanyahu’s conditions, which notably include his rejection of a permanent ceasefire and any withdrawal from Gaza.
The resistance movement highlighted that the proposal also reflects Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining control over strategic areas of Gaza, including the Netzarim Junction, the Rafah Crossing, and the Philadelphi Corridor.
Furthermore, Hamas criticised the new conditions that Netanyahu imposed on the prisoner exchange negotiations. ‘We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for thwarting the mediators’ efforts and obstructing the path to an agreement,’ they reiterated.
They also dismissed Biden’s truce optimism as ‘illusion’.
Hamas asserted that they have approached the mediation efforts in Qatar and Egypt responsibly, and have considered all proposals intended at stopping the aggression against Palestinians and concluding a prisoner exchange deal.
This approach, Hamas noted, is driven by a desire to spare the blood of their people and end the ongoing violence and genocide against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The latest round of ceasefire talks on Gaza concluded in Doha without a breakthrough on Friday, but a new date has been set for further discussions this week.
A statement from the White House, issued by co-mediators Qatar and Egypt, described a fresh proposal that they said builds ‘on areas of agreement’ and seeks to bridge remaining gaps, allowing for ‘a swift implementation of the deal.’
In a separate statement late last Friday, President Biden expressed optimism about a deal, claiming that the ‘bridging proposal’ provides a foundation for a final agreement on a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal. Despite the optimistic tone, dozens of rounds of indirect talks between Hamas and Israel have failed to produce an agreement since a short-lived truce collapsed in December.
The mediation efforts have suffered several setbacks, chief among them the assassination of Hamas’s political leader and chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, in an Israeli strike in Tehran late in July.
The worldwide struggle for the establishment of the Palestinian state from the river to the sea is rapidly developing.
Hamas has commended Colombia’s move to suspend the export of coal to Israel, stressing the need for all countries to cut off all ties with the regime.
It stated: ‘We call on all countries to sever their relations with this fascist entity and to work by all means to boycott, isolate, impose sanctions on it, and prosecute its leaders as war criminals before international courts.’
The movement hailed a statement issued by Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro in which he said Israel is using Colombian coal to make bombs and kill Palestinian children.
The UK, US and EU trade union movements must now take general strike action to stop all trade with and arms supplies to Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have taken to the streets of Chicago to call for an end to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in the US city.
There is to be a mass lobby of the TUC Congress when it meets on Monday September 9th to demand that it calls a general strike for Palestine. Make sure that you are there! Forward to the State of Palestine!
