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Hamas says Peace Talks ‘Humiliating and Degrading’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Islamist Hamas movement said on the eve of a summit on Tuesday in Egypt that the latest round of US-backed peace talks were “humiliating and degrading.”

Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan said his movement remained vehemently opposed to the talks being carried out by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in June 2007.

“(Abbas) is not authorised to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people and any agreements produced by these negotiations will not be binding on our people,” he told AFP.

The militant Islamist group carried out two shooting attacks in the West Bank ahead of the relaunch of direct peace talks in Washington, killing four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman. It has vowed further attacks.

Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel and blacklisted as a terrorist group by the Israel and the West. It won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in 2006.

Abbas was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh on Tuesday.