Hamas leader rejects Israeli, PA demand to disarm

Hamas says it won’t give up its vast weapons arsenal, putting it at odds with both the rival Fatah movement and Israel.

In a TV interview, Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, says his group, which has fought three wars with Israel, won’t give up its armed struggle against the Jewish state.

“As long as there is occupation on the ground, our people have the right to possess weapons and resist the occupation with all forms of resistance,” he tells the private On TV station.

In a gesture to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, he says Hamas will not go back to war against Israel unilaterally. “We are ready to negotiate with the Palestinian factions and Fatah on unifying the decision of peace and war,” he says.

Such concessions are unlikely to satisfy Abbas, who issued his own tough statement late Monday saying “everything must be in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.”

He said specifically he would not agree to reproduce the “Hezbollah model” of Lebanon, where the armed militant group acts freely under the watch of a weak central government.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said earlier today that his government will not accept a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions that puts Israel at risk.

He said any deal must include recognizing Israel, disbanding Hamas’s military wing and cutting ties with Hamas’ patron Iran.

— With AP