Mashaal rejects return to talks

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told Iranian TV late Sunday that “resistance” was the only effective means to secure its demands from Israel, and rejected the option of returning to the negotiating table.

“The negotiations did not succeed because Israel did not want to give a positive answer to the reasonable requests of the Palestinians,” he said, according to a translation by Ynet.

“We know resistance is the only way to break free of the burden of the Zionist regime.”

The Qatar-based official also addressed the recent wave of executions of alleged Palestinian “collaborators” with Israel. He said Hamas has managed to “purify” the Palestinians of its “spies.”

Obtaining information on the Palestinians through its intelligence has always been “a strong point of the Zionist regime,” Mashaal added.