Situation in West Bank Similar to Lead-up to Gaza War - Hamas

By Staff, Agencies

A senior Hamas official hit out at the Palestinian Authority [PA] for fraternizing the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity.

"There are two approaches among the Palestinians. A major part resists the occupying regime, but the other front, namely the Palestinian Authority, is ‘Israel's’ mercenary and has normalized its relations with the regime," Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the Gaza Strip-based movement's leadership, told Iran's al-Alam Arabic-language television on Sunday.

The first front, he said, is ready to make all sacrifices to expel the occupying regime from the entire Palestine, but the latter does not believe in Palestine's liberation.

The official added that the escalation of the situation in the occupied West Bank is similar to the lead-up to Operation ‘al-Quds Sword’ last year.

The operation saw Gaza's resistance groups rising up in arms in support of the Palestinians, who were bearing the brunt of the ‘Israeli’ aggression in the occupied West Bank.

The official, meanwhile, reminded how the operation, during which the resistance groups fired thousands of rockets into the occupied territories, managed to scuttle the ‘Israeli’ regime's security doctrine.

Al-Zahar said Arab countries' failure to back up Palestine in the face of the ‘Israeli’ regime and the West's all-out support of the regime led to the emergence of a new status quo in Arab relations with the ‘Israeli’ entity.

Returning to the Palestinian Authority and its dealings with the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime, al-Zahar said the body is stonewalling Palestine's liberation through its so-called ‘security cooperation’ with Tel Aviv.

As part of the ‘security cooperation,’ the PA relays information about pending anti-‘Israeli’ operations to Tel Aviv, he added.