The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has rejected a proposal to return to the Middle East peace talks.On Friday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the proposal by US Secretary of State John Kerry for the resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, AFP reported.
"Hamas rejects Kerry's announcement of a return to talks and considers the Palestinian Authority's return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus," the Hamas spokesman said.
Zuhri stated that acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas had no legitimate right to resume talks with Israel.
Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghassin said that "whoever negotiates on the part of the people who is not chosen by them, represents only himself. The Palestinian people will not accept this."
Kerry has visited the Middle East six times in an effort to resume talks, which have been stalled since 2010 due to the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
By Press TV
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