Alwaght- Gaza-based Hamas resistance condemned a meeting between the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, saying the meeting was a "dagger in the back" of the West Bank Intifada (uprising) against the Israeli occupation.
Gantz hosted Abbas at his home in Rosh Ha’Ayin on Tuesday night. It was the second meeting between the two, who first met in Ramallah back in August.
This is the first time since 2010 the Palestinian president talking to a senior Israeli official in the occupied territories.
"The meeting is condemned and rejected by all [Palestinian] patriots as it has deviated from the national spirit of our people," a Twitter post by Hamas spokesman Hazen Qassem said.
"This meeting coincides with the attacks of [Zionist] settlers on our people in the West Bank. It adds to the crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority leaders and is considered a dagger in the back of the intifada (uprising) in the West Bank," he added, referring to increasing tensions between the Palestinians and Israeli settlers in recent weeks.
He further warned that the development would deepen the inter-Palestinian division.
The meeting was also attended by Israeli coordinator of operations in the occupied territories Major General Rassan Aliyan. Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh as well as Security Chief Majed Faraj were also present.
The meeting "dealt with the importance of creating a political horizon that leads to a political solution in accordance with international legitimacy solutions," al-Sheikh said in a tweet after the meeting.
Israeli opposition party Likud, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, lashed out at Gantz for seeing Abbas, saying that the government of PM Neftali Bennett "is returning to agenda Abu Mazen (Abbas)."
" Dangerous concessions to Israel's security are only a matter of time," Likud further said.
