A Hamas official on Monday said the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) negotiates with Israel outside the framework of principles that the Palestinian factions agreed on.
The PNA "has slipped into a dangerous slide in which it forgot many things, mainly the refugees' rights of return," said Khalil Abu Laila, head of the Islamic movement's foreign relations.
He said the PNA limits the refugees' right to their return to a future Palestinian statehood when it is founded. For Hamas, the refugees must return to their original land which Israel seized during the 1948 war.
Hamas rejects the peace talks between Israel and the PNA, which were resumed at a US-hosted conference in Annapolis last November with the goal of clinching a peace treaty before the end of this year.
"Hamas' view of the surrendering negotiations is realistic; the Palestinian people will not harvest anything from these talks," Abu Laila said.
The negotiations failed to make any progress so far due to the continuation of Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The two territories are to be part of the future Palestinian statehood in addition to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Abu Laila said US President George W. Bush, who is to quit the White House in January next year, has "neglected his promise of two-state solution."
As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to visit the region later this month, Abu Laila said the visit aims at " putting pressure on the Palestinian side to accept the Zionist and American vision."
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2008)
