Israel poll results make no difference: Hamas
GAZA CITY: Palestinian movement Hamas said on Wednesday the winners of the Israeli elections made no difference, vowing to continue fighting against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a rightwinger, appears on course for a fith term ater fighting off a close challenge from centrist Benny Gantz in Tuesday’s vote.
A statement from Hamas said: “Any government formed is an occupation on our land, and we need to face it with a national will and unified project.”
“All of the Zionist parties represent faces of the same coin, which is occupation.”
US President Donald Trump phoned Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him on his re-election, Netanyahu said, thanking his ally for “tremendous support for Israel.”
Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas.
“Trump warmly congratulated (me) and the Israeli people,” Netanyahu tweeted.
“(I) thanked President Trump for his tremendous support for Israel, including recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan,” he said.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said ‘no’ to peace and ‘yes’ to the occupation.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the Trump administration will present “before too long” a proposal on resolving the Israeli-palestinian conflict.
“We have been working on a set of ideas that we hope to present before too long,” Pompeo told a Senate panel.
He declined on Wednesday to publicly say the Trump administration still backs a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
“We are now working with many parties to share what our vision (is) as to how to solve this problem,” he said.
Pompeo said the administration “has been working on a set of ideas” for Middle East peace “that we hope to present before too long,” adding that he hoped they would provide a basis for discussions on resolving the Israelipalestinian conflict.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine asked Pompeo, a former Republican member of the House of Representatives, if he thought a peace agreement including one state for Israel and one state for the Palestinians was an outdated idea.