Palestine's Hamas, Fatah Blast 'Radical' Israeli Ruling Party Vote To Annex West Bank

The two factions blasted the vote, which Ramallah's Fatah party said represented an end to the peace process.

Hamas and Palestinian Authority ruling party Fatah have blasted the decision by hardline Zionists in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party to urge Israeli occupation authorities to annex settlements in the West Bank, a move that could leave very little land for the people of Palestine if any “two-state solution” comes to fruition.

“The extremist Likud Party’s attempt to legislate a decision to annex the West Bank to ‘Israel’ confirms that Trump’s decision on Jerusalem enabled the occupation to implement its racist policy which aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause,” Hamas said in a press statement released on Sunday.

“Hamas warns of the dangers of implementing the Israeli policy and assures that the continuation of the Palestinian Intifada and the escalation of resistance against the Israeli Occupation and settlers will foil all these Zionist agendas and will be a prelude to restoring all Palestinian lands.”

The Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas – whose government offices are headquartered in the West Bank city of Ramallah – also denounced the clear violation of U.N. resolutions.

“The decision of the Likud party to impose Israeli control over the occupied West Bank represents an end to the remnants of the peace process unilaterally,” a Fatah statement said, promising to take the Israeli occupation authorities to court.

President Abbas himself was furious over the decision, which he said should serve as “a reminder to the international community that the Israeli government, with the full support of the American administration, stands against a just and lasting peace and strives to establish its racist discriminatory regime throughout historic Palestine."

The central committee of the right-wing party overwhelmingly supported the resolution urging for the annexation of territories that are already illegally-held, referring to the occupied Arab land as Judea and Samaria, using the biblical terms favored by Zionist extremists referring to regions within the ancient Israelite kingdom.

Any move to extend Israeli civilian law over settlements would streamline procedures for their construction and expansion, allowing for the “unimpeded construction” the resolution calls for. The land is currently under the jurisdiction of the Israeli military.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum noted that the decision is a radicalized continuation of the Tel Aviv's long-standing aggression against the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and is a clear utilization of the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli occupation state.

The spokesman added that the resistance is now compelled to fortify resistance efforts meant to secure the national rights of the people of Palestine, in addition to moving to confront “Zionist schemes,” according to Lebanese network Al-Manar.