US denies that it attempted to communicate with Hamas terror group

A senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration firmly denied that Washington has attempted to communicate or set up a meeting with the Hamas terror group.

The denial came a day after Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh claimed to the pro-Hezbollah al-Mayadeen TV that the US had tried to communicate with the terror group’s leadership and offered to meet.

“There is no truth to these assertions. None,” the senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Times of Israel.

In the interview with al-Mayadeen, Haniyeh contended that Hamas had rejected both communicating with the US and holding a “secret” meeting with it.

“We were totally convinced that these meetings ultimately would be used for a narrative that the US wants to push forward — that the deal of century that we are announcing was arranged with Palestinian parties, especially including [those] in the resistance,” he stated, referring to the recently revealed US plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 when it ousted the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority from the territory, has vehemently rejected the US plan, calling it “a dirty conspiracy against our issue and people.”

Breaking with past American administrations, the US plan envisions the creation of a Palestinian state in about 70 percent of the West Bank, a small handful of neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, most of the Gaza Strip and some areas of southern Israel — if the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, disarm Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip, and fulfill other conditions.

The plan also allows Israel to annex settlements, grants the Jewish state sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and overriding security control west of the Jordan River, and bars Palestinian refugees from settling in Israel.

Haniyeh did not state how the US allegedly tried to communicate with Hamas or hold a meeting with the group.

Hamas officials, however, often exchange message with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, all of which maintain diplomatic relations with Washington.

Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, is one of many groups on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Officials in the US government, including many who work on American policy vis-a-vis Israel and the Palestinians, have consistently criticized Hamas for its firing of rockets at Israel and its encouragement of violence against Israelis.