A Hamas spokesman slammed the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) announcement this week that the PA has resumed full security coordination with Israel.
On Wednesday, police chief Hazem Atallah told journalists that all branches of the PA security forces fully restored security cooperation with Israel two weeks ago.
In July, PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced that security coordination was halted in response to Israel’s placement of metal detectors near the entrances to the Temple Mount.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum reacted to the news in a statement: “Hamas is surprised by the PA in the West Bank’s resumption of security coordination and cooperation with the Zionist enemy, which is the equivalent of the greatest danger to the Palestinian people, its unity and its legitimate rights including the right to resist the occupation”.
In October, rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal brokered by Egypt, after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority (PA) by 1st December.
Israel and the PA consider security coordination, which has been in place for years, as critical to maintaining security and preventing terrorist attacks in the West Bank.
More than 30,000 PA security forces work with soldiers from Israel Defense Forces to keep a lid on violence in the West Bank.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, the EU, Canada, and Israel.
The organisation’s founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel, and the organisation has repeatedly opposed peace efforts.
